Posts Tagged ‘economic development’

Article courtesy of NMSU News Center

Photo by Fred Shepherd

April 27, 2010
WRITER: Justin Bannister, (575) 646-5981, jbannist@nmsu.edu
CONTACT: Vicki Galindo, (575) 646-5265, vigalind@nmsu.edu

A mile-long extension of Payne Street through New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Business and Research Park is now open. The new road, and its accompanying underground utilities, will allow for the park’s continued growth and better connect it with the rest of campus.

“Without this road, we couldn’t continue developing the park,” said Garrey Carruthers, dean of the NMSU College of Business and vice president for economic development. “This road lays the infrastructure necessary to help us attract the kinds of companies that hire our students, offer internships and create jobs in the region.”

The 257-acre business and research park is located on the south end of NMSU’s Las Cruces campus between Interstates 10 and 25. The new road extension stretches south, through the park, from the intersection of Payne and Wells streets to Sam Steel Way.

“Academically, this research park is a place where our students will eventually be engaged in hands-on applications, working with companies in search of solutions that they have identified in the classroom,” said Kevin Boberg, CEO of the Arrowhead Center. “Economically, it’s estimated that once fully developed, the entire research park could contain more than two million square feet of office and lab space where 5,000 to 6,000 people would work. This road enables us to realize those benefits.”

The road project represents nearly $2 million in investments, including a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. Other money for the project came from the state of New Mexico, local road funds, the New Mexico Department of Transportation and NMSU.

Photo by Fred Shepherd

The first 11 acres of the park under development are adjacent to the new road. The most recently completed building, Spaceplex 2, is home to General Dynamics and opened last summer. The park’s next building will be more than 8,000 square feet and broken into smaller, 1,700-square-foot pads for businesses intending to establish themselves before jumping into larger spaces. That building is currently under construction with an occupancy date set for later this summer.

Other plans for the research park include working with the Las Cruces Public School District to construct an early college high school where high school students could take college-level courses for credit.

Broadcast Advisory: Video and sound bites are available under the slug Arrowhead Drive at the following ftp site: ftp://aggievision:goaggies@aggievision.nmsu.edu. Use the following information if you are using a download client: Host: aggievision.nmsu.edu Username: aggievision Password: goaggies. To download these files you must have Quicktime Pro software. For questions on problems with downloading, please contact Minerva Baumann (575) 646-7566.

MVEDA’s Business on the Border Luncheon this past Tuesday featured a group of commercial lenders who addressed some of the obstacles to obtaining financing faced by today’s business owners.  Our panelists/speakers included Kim Hakes from Citizens Bank, Michael Cheney from Wells Fargo, and Clyde Hudson from USDA, each providing perspectives on the state of available financing in today’s economy.   We thank them for taking their time and expertise they provided to the group.  Access to financing is a subject matter that is not only important for the sustainability of all local businesses, but it is also extremely relevant with respect to economic development and business attraction.

Photo by Gabriel Vasquez, Las Cruces Bulletin

We find that as economic developers, we are being asked more and more to find localized financing solutions to companies looking at expanding into the region.   This is a significant shift from just two years ago when the primary concerns of clients were workforce labor and real estate.  Therefore it was positive to hear from our banking panelists that they were beginning to see a recovery in commercial lending and it was great to hear from Mr. Hudson how active USDA has been in their lending programs during these challenging economic times.

At MVEDA, we are also looking to identify and work with programs that might assist with business financing needs.  We are also pro-actively marketing and promoting the business assets we have in the region that make us great destination for certain industries.  In mid-March, MVEDA joined the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce and New Mexico State University as part of a delegation that went to Washington, D.C. to promote and support activities at White Sands Missile Range.  In April, MVEDA will be participating in two aerospace tradeshows, Space Access 2010 in Phoenix, and the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.  This is part of MVEDA’s continued support of Spaceport America and growing our commercial aerospace potential.  Finally, in the last week of April, MVEDA will be attending the International Asset Management Council (IAMC) Conference which is made-up of leading site selection consultants and corporate real estate decision makers from throughout the country.

MVEDA’s lead generation is still very active led by the renewable energy cluster which makes up 34% of all of our leads for the year.  This past month showed stronger industry balance in new leads generated with the biggest increase in lead generation found in the business/finance sector.

On Monday, January 25, Governor Bill Richardson unveiled an interconnected system that will eventually link 33 sites around the state to Encanto, New Mexico’s Supercomputer.  Encanto is the fastest public supercomputer in the world. The Supercomputer, which is housed at Intel in Rio Rancho, can perform 172 trillion calculations per second.

The “Connect New Mexico” event connected all eight new gateway sites into the Supercomputer using its new teleconferencing capability. The sites are:

• The University of New Mexico
• New Mexico State University
• Eastern New Mexico
• Western New Mexico University
• New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
• Santa Fe Community College
• San Juan College
• The State Capitol

These sites will be utilized by the universities and local businesses that need high performance computing for design and modeling purposes. The Supercomputer can be used for research, educational activities, training, and business modeling in the areas of energy, environment, digital film, aerospace, and biotechnology, among others.

The founding institutions for the New Mexico Computing Applications Center, which runs the Supercomputer, are UNM, NMSU, New Mexico Tech, and Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.

For more information about the event and future Supercomputer gateways, see the Governor’s newsroom and the NMSU News Center.