A project proposed for a site in Santa Fe’s midtown area along Cerrillos Road has seen a major overhaul under new developers, swapping in a self-storage facility for a four-story apartment complex that had drawn neighbors’ complaints earlier this year.
Still, residents raised a few concerns about the more than 100,000-square-foot Empire Cerrillos Road Redevelopment at a neighborhood meeting earlier this month: Would it contribute to gentrification of the area and how it might affect locally owned self-storage businesses?
The project will be the subject of a second virtual early neighborhood notification meeting Thursday, this one centered on the developers’ request for a special-use permit.
The new proposal calls for a climate-controlled self-storage facility, community office and gathering spaces, a public dog park and creative workshops. It is planned for a 2.72-acre space at 1361 Fourth St., 1750 Cerrillos Road and 1802 Cerrillos Road — the site of the former Empire Builders Supply Co., which closed in 2019 after six decades in business.
A previous redevelopment plan for the site was led by local developer Andy Duettra and included 151 apartments in two four-story buildings, as well as a commercial space for a coffee shop.
That plan apparently was scuttled after it drew significant criticism during a June 24 neighborhood meeting; residents raised concerns about the project’s height and the impact they said it would have on their neighborhood and traffic.
The developers of the new proposal are Amatren LLC and DXD Capital, an Albuquerque-based company that touts itself as using a data-based approach to evaluating self-storage development opportunities across the United States.
The new proposal calls for the structures to top out at 30 feet, considerably less than the previous project.
“This low-rise profile ensures the building complements nearby residences and maintains a human-scaled environment, avoiding any overwhelming presence on the streetscape,” the applicants state in a questionnaire.
The proposed dog park would be east of Fourth Street.
The applicants said the mixed-use project also would include sustainability elements such as a rooftop solar array, rainwater harvesting ponds and underground cisterns, with captured rainwater being used to irrigate landscaping.
Construction time for the project has been estimated at a year.
During the Oct. 6 early neighborhood notification meeting, Drew Dolan of DXD Capital said there is significant demand in Santa Fe for a self-storage facility like the one his company is proposing.
Citing the high cost of housing in the area, Dolan said many folks, especially young people, have had to downsize to smaller apartments and have become accustomed to using self-storage facilities as an extension of their homes.
Several people expressed concerns about the project’s effect on pedestrian safety on Cerrillos Road, potential gentrification in the surrounding neighborhood and negative impacts on locally owned self-storage facilities.
Forrest Thomas, who noted he owns three self-storage sites in the city, said occupancy rates for such businesses are trending down nationwide. He expressed a fear of his location nearby, 1501 Third St., “getting pushed out of the neighborhood” by the new project.
