Redevelopment of the De Anza Motor Lodge in Albuquerque is scheduled to be finished by February with grand reopening tentatively set for April.
Groundbreaking for the $9 million project began in November, and the Albuquerque Journal reports the site now looks drastically different. Construction project manager Jim Trump
Nearly all of the buildings have come down; only a couple remain, such as the Turquoise Cafe coffee shop. “Indeed, we’ve got a very strong prospect there,” said Trump about a potential tenant for Turquoise. […]
Ninety percent of the infrastructure work is completed, such as an upgraded electrical system and sewer lines. “We’re going to asphalt to the curb in the next 30 days and move the fence back so it’s not all the way up on Central” said Trump, speaking on behalf of the development team, which includes HB Construction, TLC Plumbing and Utility and Hartman + Majewski Design. […]
The De Anza will be replaced by a new hotel and apartment complex, restaurants, retailers and office tenants, echoing the original and preserving some of the historic elements including the neon sign and the Zuni murals.
Trump also told the newspaper he plans to get a peach tree from the Zuni pueblo to plant on the grounds. The motel’s founder, Charles Wallace, once handed out peaches to his residents and guests from a tree that once grew at De Anza but died after years of neglect.
The motel’s neon sign was taken down in April to be restored and eventually reinstalled.
The city purchased the closed property in 2003, and it required three tries before it could find a redeveloper with the proper financing to begin the project.
Wallace, a Zuni trader and Indian art collector, built De Anza Motor Lodge in 1939. The motel at 4301 Central NE is on the National Register of Historic Places.
De Anza’s developers probably are encouraged by the revitalized El Vado Motel project, also on Route 66, which reopened this summer as a boutique motel and business incubator for stores, restaurants and an microbrewery.
(Image of De Anza Motor Lodge in 2013 by Paul Narvaez via Flickr)