Eddie Binns at 87: still building, still giving, still going strong

By Mike Cook

Las Cruces Bulletin

Since 1955, Wilfred E. “Eddie” Binns has built more than 2,500 homes and about 3,000 apartments and has developed more than 4,000 lots in Las Cruces and southeast New Mexico.

At 87, Binns is the oldest and longest continuous builder and Realtor in Las Cruces. He owns cattle ranches in New Mexico and lives on a 70-acre farm just west of Las Cruces. Binns was in the banking business for more than 20 years as well as the sand and gravel, cement and lumber businesses, an insurance agency, a winery and a waste treatment facility while continuing to build homes and commercial properties in Las Cruces.

Binns owns a number of properties, including the plaza that houses the Las Cruces Bulletin.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” Binns said. “I’ve found good people to work and partner with. I could delegate, and trust people to get things done.”

He is also the last surviving active charter member of the Rio Grande Rotary Club of Las Cruces, and a long-time supporter of the club’s Dress the Child program, Mesilla Valley Hospice and other nonprofits that benefit the less fortunate.

Binns formed the Binns Family Foundation to decide how tens of thousands of dollars should be donated each year to a wide range of nonprofits in Las Cruces to “put back into the community that’s been very good to me” where it will do the most good, he said.

He has built affordable housing to help low-income families, guided young builders, helped many business owners get started and given opportunities to students interested in jobs and careers in the construction industry.

Binns was a member of the El Paso Electric Board of Directors for more than 12 years and is past president of the Las Cruces Realtors Association and was the New Mexico representative on the National Homebuilders Association. He continues to serve on the advisory council to the dean of the NMSU College of Engineering.

“When I get involved in something, I get involved in a big way,” Binns said. “I try to involve as many people as possible,” including building the Las Cruces Board of Realtors and the Las Cruces Home Builders Association.  

A native of Roswell (“I was there when the flying saucer landed,” he joked), Binns grew up in Portales. After studying at Eastern New Mexico University for two years, he came to Las Cruces in 1955 to attend New Mexico A&M (now NMSU) and earn a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.

Binns went to work for local builder C.B. Smith in 1956 and built his first home, a two-bedroom house on Fifth Street, to live in while he attended college. When he married his wife, Bernice, nearly 65 years ago, Binns built a bigger house for them on Ethel Street. His current home, built in 1972, is “right over the back fence of the county building,” and has been “a good place to raise a family” for the past 50 years, Binns said. He and Bernice have four children and “a dozen grandkids to spoil,” he said.

“I couldn’t have as much fun as I’m having without the love and support of my wife of 65 years,” Binns said. June 2 is the Binns’ 65^th anniversary.

Binns has three local subdivisions in process right now, is involved in building a 270-unit apartment complex, recently opened Mesquite Waste Facility south of Las Cruces and has several warehouse buildings under design.

Binns said he wished the City of Las Cruces was as business friendly as some other places in New Mexico he has worked. A recent housing project in Carlsbad, Hobbs and Artesia included “help from everybody to get it accomplished,” Binns said. “You don’t see that in Las Cruces, unfortunately.”

In Las Cruces, he said, “it takes longer to get a permit than it takes to build it.”

“Tell me the rules and don’t change them and I’ll figure out how to play with you,” Binns said. “Keep changing the rules and you make it difficult for the industry to move forward.”

Throughout his long career, Binns has maintained a philosophy of trust and integrity, he said.

“A man is only as good as his word,” Binns said.

How you treat people “is really important,” he said, noting that some of his employees have been with him for 30 or 40 years or even longer.

“I couldn’t play with as many things as I play with without the support of my associates and employees,” Binns said. “I take care of them, and they take better care of me.”

Binns said he has also been sustained by his strong Christian faith.

“There’s no question about a God and where we came from and where we’re going,” he said.

A cancer survivor of more than 20 years, Binns still enjoys many hobbies, including flying an airplane, scuba diving, photography, rockhounding, fishing, skiing and, of course, collecting real estate.

He still comes to work every day as president of Binns Enterprises, headquartered on Missouri Avenue.

“I don’t work 16 hours a day anymore,” he said, but “I’m not ready for a rocking chair. I continue to be active and look for opportunities for growth and service to our community.”