ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) — While a potential state fairgrounds redevelopment moves forward, some neighboring private property owners say they’re worried the state is working to push them out without even a conversation.
Silva Screen Plus Owner Ed Silva and a handful of other landowners near San Pedro and Central share the same feeling. “We have not been contacted, and that’s the bottom line, and we don’t want to sell,” said Silva. Operating their businesses for decades in the historic Microsoft headquarters building, those business owners are worried the state’s potential fairgrounds redevelopment is moving on without their say.
$67 million approved to redevelop section of Expo New Mexico
The fairgrounds district board approved $22 million in bond funds to use for buying out the nearly nine-acre southwest corner of the fairgrounds, where at least eight different private businesses and property owners are. The governor has already acknowledged moving ahead.
“So they’ll get a fair market evaluation and investment, so they can start their businesses somewhere else or be repaid for what they’ve spent on those businesses,” said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. “And then, we get a chance to create this larger redevelopment aspect as a result. We’ve got to have those corners. And we are well underway to make that happen sooner rather than later.”…