Mesa del Sol is a planned 9,000 acre project under development by Forest City Covington, master developer on a state land parcel in the City of Albuquerque. The infill development project is planned as a traditional neighborhood development (TND) by Calthorpe Associates with a potential buildout of 31,500 housing units and 20 million square feet of nonresidential space over the next 30 years.
EPS was the primary economic consultant on the project planning team responsible for market analysis, development programming and financing, fiscal impact analysis, and economic development strategies. The recommended development program for the initial 3,000-acre takedown includes 9,500 housing units across the income spectrum, as well as a full range of placemaking elements with neighborhood and community mixed use commercial villages, schools, and parks to be developed over the next 15 years. The employment-based development is proposed to include a research and technology park to support the adjacent Sandia and Air Force Research Labs. The most significant challenge is determining the public finance approach to build the required infrastructure and facilities to support the new urbanist development. EPS has developed a detailed project financial model to evaluate alternative public financing approaches to be used to negotiate a development agreement that addresses the City's "no net expense" requirement under the Planned Communities Criteria.