Las Cruces Downtown Development May Include New Civic Plaza and Garage
A civic plaza for downtown Las Cruces as well as a large parking garage may be in the making.
“A civic plaza in the downtown area would be a real amenity, mainly for the different civic and business gatherings that take place downtown” remarks Laura Kindseth, the executive director of the Las Cruces Downtown Partnership.
“We don’t really have a real big gathering place right now and a place to have events,” continues Kindseth. “We normally have our events on Main Street.”
Members of the Las Cruces City Council have talked about using Tax Incremental Development District financing for a plaza that might cost at least $4.5 million to build. The cost estimate for a new parking garage is $5 million.
“In speaking to potential business owners, we’ve noticed that the one question they always ask—what about parking?” says Kindseth. “We feel that would be a real attraction to doing business downtown and that it possibly could be a parking garage project mixed with retail or even housing.”
Members of the Las Cruces City Council may now apply to the New Mexico Finance Authority for a planning grant as the next step in determining how to proceed on both projects.
By Gary Boulard
