Hooray, Bernalillo County is getting a “steal” on its new HQ…because our economy is so awful

It looks like Bernalillo County, at long last, will be getting its own office building, PNM’s former Alvarado Square office building. We honestly are okay with this as long as that means vacating other office buildings and putting the space back on the market (and possibly back on the tax rolls).

From all appearances, the County seems to be getting a smoking deal and that’s welcome news for County taxpayers. The latest asking price of $2.7 million is a whopping 75% reduction relative to the original $11 million list price for the building.

But, as with any silver lining around here, there is a massive grey cloud looming. That massive price cut is a pretty strong indicator that Albuquerque’s downtown office market is extremely soft and that big companies are not exactly clamoring to obtain office space in downtown Albuquerque which is of course, New Mexico’s largest City.

Meanwhile, in economically-booming Denver, the City’s tallest new skyscraper in 30 years is on pace to open in 2018. Any bets on when Albuquerque’s next skyscraper will be constructed?