The 17-story skyscraper at the corner of San Mateo and Central Avenue and the 10-story “mini version” next door are clad with 23-karat gold tiles and once served as the symbol of Albuquerque and New Mexico’s booming extraction and atomic economy. Today, it stands vacant and its lots are filled with the remnants of overnight campfires and overstuffed shopping carts looted from the now closed Walmart two blocks away.
Now things could be turning around.
After more than a year of planning and negotiating with various city development agencies, the city council is being asked to give the final green light to a $2 million investment of public redevelopment funds into the site that could ultimately includes new housing, retail and life-work spaces. The developer estimated an $18 million total cost…