Amador Hotel restoration among four new projects planned for Downtown Las Cruces

“It’s time we get this Amador Hotel finished. It’s been lingering way, way, way too long.”

Mayor Pro Tem and TIDD Board Vice Chair Gill Sorg

LAS CRUCES - With the Church-Water two-way conversion project complete, the city Tax Increment Development District (TIDD) will move forward with four new downtown development projects this fiscal year.

City Economic Development Administrator Mandy Guss told the TIDD board at its Monday, July 22, meeting that TIDD will fund a Campo Street redesign and reconstruction project, renovation of city parking lot No. 7 to include construction of new public restrooms behind the Rio Grande Theatre downtown, and the ongoing rehabilitation of the historic Amador Hotel.

Guss said TIDD has about $4 million in its budget and expects to spend about $1.5 million on these four projects, which she said will be in the planning and design phase this year.

“It’s time we get this Amador Hotel finished,” Mayor Pro Tem and TIDD Board Vice Chair Gill Sorg said at the meeting. “It’s been lingering way, way, way too long.”

The Amador Hotel is the oldest property owned by the city. The restoration project, spearheaded by the Amador Hotel Foundation, is restoring the property to the majesty of its founding in the 1870s by Martin Amador, patriarch of one of the most powerful and influential families in Las Cruces history.

The newly renovated hotel will include a museum, featuring the history of the Amador family, which Dennis said is the largest Hispanic family archive in the United States.

TIDD is a funding mechanism for public infrastructure. It was created by the city in 2009 “to generate revenue within the downtown area and to use those revenues within that area for public improvement projects,” according to city documents. It is funded through existing gross receipts tax revenues, with additional funding from the New Mexico Legislature.

 Mike Cook may be contacted at mike@lascrucesbulletin.com.