Developers of the historic but long-closed De Anza Motor Lodge in Albuquerque on Tuesday showed off artist’s renderings of the upcoming project, which is expected to break ground in October and take about a year to complete.
According to the Albuquerque Journal, the Route 66 motel will be demolished and rebuilt as a hotel, apartments, a restaurant with rooftop seating, plus office and retail space.
The investment group has retained commercial real estate firm Sedberry & Associates to line up tenants at for the reimagined De Anza, which many hope will revitalize an area along a blighted stretch in East Nob Hill. Sedberry representative Lisa Allen-Urea said the firm is in the pre-marketing phase and hopes to announce the names of tenants before construction is finished.
Key development partners on site Tuesday were Dale Armstrong, president and CEO of TLC Plumbing and Utility, and members of Hartman + Majewski Design. HB Construction will also be involved in the enterprise, said Armstrong.
“We’re looking forward to breathing new life into this piece of Route 66 history,” said Armstrong.
De Anza Motor Lodge closed in 2002. The city of Albuquerque purchased the property in 2003 and for many years since had been looking for someone to redevelop it.
KRQE-TV in Albuquerque filed this report from the scene:
The television station also posted artist’s renderings of the project on its website.
KRQE also reported the motel’s historic Zuni murals and artifacts will be preserved, along with its neon sign. The project will cost $8.2 million.
Zuni trader and Indian art collector Charles G. Wallace built De Anza Motor Lodge in 1939. The motel at 4301 Central NE is on the National Register of Historic Places. The site was used in a scene in the acclaimed television drama “Breaking Bad” and as a locale for a 2016 Tina Fey movie, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.”
(Screen-capture image of an artist’s rendering of the De Anza Motor Lodge redevelopment via KRQE video)