Almost three months have passed since Moving Arts Española Director Roger Montoya left City Council Chambers to applause, following a presentation to the Council regarding his proposed move into the Hunter building.
But after the Council tabled a contract between Moving Arts and the city at a Sept. 10 meeting, Montoya and Española Mayor Alice Lucero have expanded the plans for the Hunter building to not only include Moving Arts, but also a Siete del Norte food hub, office space for local businesses and affordable apartment housing for students and faculty at Northern New Mexico College.
Montoya was required to go back to the drawing board when the city indefinitely postponed discussion of a contract that would have saddled it with most of the financial responsibility of renovating the dilapidated structure.
According to a copy of the original contract, the city would have had to pay for a majority of the repairs including the installation of cooling and heating upgrades, reconstruction or additions of bathrooms compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and remediation of lead paint, oil residue and asbestos.
After Lucero told Montoya that the city would not be able to finance a comprehensive renovation, Lucero suggested that they explore bringing in other partners to help fund the project.
According to Lucero, the city is now looking at attracting a private developer to cover the costs of renovation. Lucero said that the public-private partnership would have the developer collect rent from the various organizations that are housed there until they recoup their investment. Once the developers have made their money back, they can relinquish property management back to the city.
While Moving Arts was originally intended to be the anchor tenant for the building, Montoya and Lucero are now saying that community development corporation Siete del Norte could take over that role with a food hub.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a food hub is akin to an indoor farmer’s market where local farmers can sell their goods directly to consumers.
Siete del Norte area manager Todd Lopez did not return requests for comment.
Lucero wants each room in the Hunter building to be multi-purpose, allowing tenants to move in and out without reconfiguration. Lucero also envisions weekend events like art workshops for children and car shows being put on at the building.
On the second floor, Lucero wants to have apartments for Northern students and faculty, having heard previously from faculty that there isn’t affordable housing in Española.
Completing Lucero’s vision are clusters of small office buildings that will surround the Hunter building. These modest office spaces will be aimed toward small business owners like beauticians.
Even though Moving Arts is no longer the primary focus of the Hunter building project, Montoya is still involved. After temporarily suspending classes following a rental dispute with former landlord Cariños de los Niños Charter School, Moving Arts leased a new building on the Ohkay Owingeh pueblo. If the Hunter building project comes together, Montoya wants to have classes for older children at the Hunter building and instruct younger children at the current location.
While he maintained his enthusiasm for the Hunter building project, Montoya admitted that action could take some time.
“The city has invited other non-profits into the fold. It’s a beautiful vision that’s not quite ready for a vote,” he said.
According to Montoya, he met with a prominent Santa Fe-based architect to discuss the feasibility of the project, though no definitive numbers on the cost were brought up.
In the meantime, city officials and the Rio Arriba County Commission will meet Thursday at a work session to discuss joint economic development efforts, including the Hunter building project.