Members of a new board overseeing up to $500 million in investment to re-envision the State Fair grounds in Albuquerque authorized about $67 million for infrastructure—including millions aimed at two dangerous intersections.
The State Fair District Board, which the Legislature created earlier this year, is tasked with overseeing the design and authorizing spending for the 236-acre site in the heart of Albuquerque that abuts the International District neighborhood. The state-owned site has emerged as a target for investment that board members and neighbors say they hope will benefit the neighborhood, long beset with crime, drug use and poverty.
The board unanimously gave initial approval for spending for the project’s early phases, including about $16 million for demolition and land preparation, $27 million for internal roadways and utilities, $19 million for a 10-acre park and $6 million for”off-site” pedestrian safety improvements.
Members also received their first glimpse at “pre-development draft concepts” for the fairgrounds.
Officials at Stantec, the firm developing a master plan for the redevelopment, also provided the concepts to Source New Mexico, though they stressed the designs are preliminary and subject to change, including based on the public’s input at upcoming meetings.
Even with the project in its nascent stage, the impact on the International District and its residents has been the subject of much conversation among board members, including Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and New Mexico Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque). The development may also mean the annual State Fair will need to find a new home.
The intersections on both sides of the fairgrounds, where Central Avenue crosses San Pedro Drive and Louisiana Boulevard, are the two most dangerous intersections in New Mexico for pedestrians, according to state Transportation Department data. Forty-two crashes involving pedestrians occurred at those two intersections in 2024.
The design concepts Stantec shared aim to open up the site with green space, parks and amenities, including an arena or other large community venue, along with an unspecified number of mixed-income housing units. The design also includes “traffic-calming” measures, including more crosswalks, pedestrian-activated streetlights and at least one more stoplight, said Stantec Designer Nancy Locke.
“We’d love to slow that traffic down a little bit,” Locke said.
The $67 million the board authorized includes $6 million in “off-site” improvements detailed in the pre-development concepts, money that could go to the pedestrian safety measures. It includes about $2 million for intersection improvements, $2.6 million for sidewalk and landscape improvements and $140,000 to improve the existing bus stops there.
While the board authorized the $67 million in bonding capacity for infrastructure, spending that money is still a good way off, Lujan Grisham said. The Legislature will also have to sign off when it meets in January, and then the state Finance Board will issue the bonds at a later date.
And the funding for up to the $433 million in remaining bonding capacity the Legislature gave the Fair Board would come in subsequent phases. The governor and state Rep. Janelle Anyanonu (D-Albuquerque) said they might seek even more funding for the project at the January legislative session.
Still, the governor said during Thursday’s meeting she’d like to see the project break ground before she leaves office at the end of next year, and she asked Locke if that was possible.
“We’ll have to move fast,” Locke said.
