Mesa del Sol to add hundreds of new housing units

Alaina Mencinger, Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
·2 min read

Nov. 14—Mesa del Sol, home to Isleta Pavilion, Netflix North America and thousands of Albuquerque residents, is growing.

"How does Albuquerque grow? Where does Albuquerque grow?" asked mayor Tim Keller at a Monday press conference. "The one area ... that is all set up and growing at an incredible pace is Mesa del Sol."

Under construction are 400 new homes, including townhouses and single-family residences, and a 314-unit apartment building which will open in summer 2023. A new grocery store, Mesa Market, a brewpub and new highway interchanges are also in the works.

Also in the works are a new grocery store, Mesa Market, and a brewpub, as well as new highway interchanges meant to increase accessibility to the area.

"Unlike many other places where we develop houses, where we only develop a certain kind of house in one area, this has a multiplicity of ... types of homes," said Mesa del Sol CEO David Campbell. "You'll have in a very close-knit area: single-family dwellings, large and small, you'll have apartments, you'll have townhomes and you'll have affordable houses that are at all levels of affordability."

Currently, Mesa del Sol is building workforce housing, which is affordable for people who make 80 to 120% of the area median income. Future housing developments will cater to people making around 60 to 80% of AMI, Campbell said.

An expansion of Netflix's Albuquerque studio is also under construction. According to Campbell, when the expansion is completed, the studio will be the largest Netflix production studio in North America, and the second-largest production company in the country — after Tyler Perry Studios in Georgia.

Bringing in retail as well as housing is essential, Campbell said, although growing the population first will drive retail growth.

"It's not just houses, it's having services, having grocery stores, having coffee shops, brew pubs, dog groomers, all of that ... that are a community," Campbell said. "Not to mention schools ... We're working collaboratively with the school district to make sure that at the same time we have houses for people to live in, we have schools for their children to be educated in."

In August, the International School at Mesa del Sol, a charter school that opened in 2009, had its ribbon cutting for its new, 217,800 square foot space. Mesa del Sol CEO Dave Campbell said that traditional public schools are soon to come, with space set aside for a public Mesa del Sol high school, middle school and elementary school.

"The future is bright," Campbell said.