ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For 25 years, the gates at the Lofts at Albuquerque High have been closed. Now, the city is demanding the owners either open it or renegotiate the contract they have with the city.
“Their homes are being messed with. They are in an uproar over this,” Historic Campus Association Board Member, Laura Jepsen, said.
In 2001, the high school was converted into apartments using city and federal funds. The city says as part of that agreement, the courtyard was to be considered city property.
For two decades, no red flags were raised. Until last month, when the Historic Campus Association, which oversees the lofts, received a letter from the city.
“That’s part of the current agreement we have, which is they’re required to keep that area open from 9 a.m. to dusk,” Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency Director, Terry Brunner, said.
Jepsen said residents are worried if the gates are open, it’ll make them vulnerable.
“Sometimes people who are not doing so well and a little bit less fortunate have used our fountain to bathe in and the side of our buildings to defecate and urinate on,” she said. “This isn’t about keeping people out. It’s just about keeping the 400 plus of us here safe.”
Why now?
Jepsen and many other residents are asking why now?
“The problem that we have right now is they have an agreement that’s not being enforced, and it hasn’t been enforced for a while,” Brunner said.
Brunner said the city is willing to re-negotiate the agreement with the lofts.
“We need some sort of response from them on what they want us to do, and some of the parts of that agreement that will pertain to how we treat this property in the future, so we’re willing to keep that gate locked and have it locked as long as we’re making progress on an agreement,” he said.
Part of those negotiations include the loft owners paying for the city space.
“It’s a little two-sided. Is this about money or is this about making this public and opening this up to the community?” Jepsen said.
Not just residents impacted
It’s not just the 400 residents being impacted—the lofts are home to Fat Pipe, which is a coworking space home to 40 businesses.
John Simmons works five days a week from here and said opening those gates isn’t what he or many others signed up for.
“For the people who live in the condominiums, and for the people who are doing businesses, this was a secure area. And that was sort of part of the agreement that people knew when they moved in here, or set up office here, and it’s not a city park,” he said.
Jepsen, who is also the director of Fat Pipe, said many residents and business owners told her they would move out if those gates open up.
“On the business side of things, it’s been hard because our residents have confirmed if we open this to the public, they will pull their leases. We are looking at a drop in at least 10% of our revenue just if we open up these courtyards,” said Jepsen.
Why MRA didn’t come to the Lofts town hall
Wednesday night, residents and business owners held a town hall to share their concerns. They invited Mayor Tim Keller, Councilor Joaquin Baca, MRA and other city leaders.
Baca showed up. MRA declined to come ahead of the meeting.
“What we’re seeking is we really would like to meet with the people that are signers on this agreement, the representatives of their association, because we want to negotiate how they want to treat this property. I think that’s the most productive use of our time. I don’t know if we can negotiate with 60 or 80 people,” Brunner said.
He also added that as long as those negotiations are underway, the city won’t force the gate open.
For 25 years, the gates at the Lofts at Albuquerque High have been closed. Now, the city is demanding the owners either open it or renegotiate the contract they have with the city.
