The revitalization & historic preservation of Las Cruces Downtown

 

Downtown was once the commercial and cultural focus of Las Cruces. It was a street lined with numerous retail stores, hotels, theaters, restaurants, and colorful western bars. It was a gathering place not only for residents from the adjacent Mesquite district and the Alameda Depot neighborhoods, but for people throughout Doña Ana County for over a century. In the 1970s, urban renewal took over Main Street. Eight city blocks were enclosed, covered with metal awnings. Storefronts were moved from street view to entrances opening onto concrete parking lots, on which old adobe homes were once standing. Access was confusing and prosperous businesses began to experience severe difficulties. In 1972, an enclosed mall was built not far from Downtown. A few retail stores relocated, but others closed. In the early 1980s, a larger and more modern mall was built in east Las Cruces. The downtown area became a haven for the homeless community. The gospel rescue mission, then located downtown, has moved to a new and excellent facility and the vagrancy problem has virtually disappeared.

In 1994, the City of Las Cruces led an effort to enlist the services of the American Institute of Architects for a RUDAT (Regional/Urban Design Assistance Team) study. This team was composed of engineers, architects and planners who voluntarily came to the city to assess the Downtown condition and make recommendations. Their visit was a great success but the plan was never implemented. LCDT is using the R/UDAT study today because it is still viable, along with a 1998 GOBAR Study which updates the R/UDAT plan. These plans were not implemented for various reasons. R/UDAT was driven by City Government and did not have community support. Neither plan contained information on economic restructuring or showed visualizations, maquettes or computer generated renderings on how the downtown could look. Moreover, downtown merchants felt that they were excluded from the process, and the historic neighborhoods were not sufficiently represented. Las Cruces lacked a professional and experienced staff to drive the effort, and so the City Council was pessimistic and not particularly interested.

"Timing is everything" is the motto of LCDT. There has been an incredible shift in the makeup of City Council and they have voted six to one that downtown revitalization be the number one priority during the 2003 legislative session. They have also voted to designate all moneys from sale of city property downtown, as well as the proceeds from the land sale for the new $55,000,000 Federal Court House for projects downtown. These proceeds will total over $500,000. Moreover, Las Cruces City Council has matched a McCune Foundation grant to secure the services of Sites Southwest, whose principal architect, Robert McCabe, who was a leader in the successful revitalization of downtown Albuquerque. Sites Southwest will provide LCDT with an analysis of current conditions, and how the area's assets can be developed. The deliverables include identifying customers of the future downtown, gateways to the area, developing major focus elements (Retail/Entertainment, Cultural Attractions/Housing/Office Use), formulating a mixed-core strategy and develop visualizations of the Downtown design concepts. Now that  Bob McCabe's plan is in place, the plaza can become a reality. Other ideas and visualizations are demonstrated on our project page.