DAILY LOBO new mexico
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January 27, 2012
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The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
Retailers descend on south campus by Jeremy Spates jspates@unm.edu
For residents of Lobo Village and employees working on UNM’s south campus, a quick meal within walking distance is out of the question. However, plans are being made to change that. Acres of University-owned land along Avenida Cesar Chavez will be leased to businesses that will provide services and amenities currently absent from the area. According to the UNM Master Plan, UNM’s future real estate development proposal unveiled in August 2011, much of the vacant land around south campus is slated for development as commercial space. Kim Murphy, director of real estate for UNM, said the University is hoping to persuade restaurants, among others, to build there. “Whether it’s a sit-down restaurant, or a sandwich deli — yogurt shops, coffee shops, juice shops — these are the kind of businesses that expressed some interest in being down there,“ Murphy said. Lobo Development, a non-profit corporation owned by the UNM Board of Regents, is responsible for attracting those businesses.
Murphy, who also works as an officer with Lobo Development, said that before businesses begin moving in, Lobo Development will have to contract private developers to fund construction and landscaping. “We’re continuing to look for tenants, and we’re also looking for developers,” Murphy said. “Once we select a developer, then the planning process will really start and we’ll be able to engage a whole variety of interested parties.” The planning process will involve choosing the layout and design of the buildings that will house the new businesses. The so-called South Campus Placemaking Plan, drawn by Albuquerque architectural firm Dekker/ Perich/Sabatini, recommends a mixed-use environment where the new amenities would be integrated with the existing housing, athletic and work facilities. The plan also suggests other improvements for the south campus, including widened sidewalks and landscaped trails, which aim to make the area friendlier to pedestrians. Amy Coburn, consultant for Lobo Development, said the corporation is trying to respond to the needs of students as well as to the thousands of workers in
Isabel Hees / Daily Lobo The land adjacent to UNM’s Lobo Village near Avenida Cesar Chavez and I-25 sits vacant awaiting retail shops, restaurants and grocery stores. UNM realestate director Kim Murphy says UNM intends to develop the area as part of the University’s Master Plan. UNM’s Science and Technology Park and athletic event attendees. Coburn said the organization is also hoping to attract businesses outside of the food industry that are tailored to the needs of nearby students, faculty and staff. UNM student and Lobo Village resident Andrew Herring said many students are frustrated by
the lack of nearby grocery stores. “A few of us said it would be cool to have a grocery store within walking distance,” he said. “Just something you can walk to (would be a great addition). Something like a Smith’s or a Subway.” Herring also said students would like a place to consume alcohol within walking distance.
“Adding a bar would be cool because you wouldn’t have to deal with driving, and that would be safer,” he said. They will probably never put one in though … I would think if it’s UNM property and ACC is just renting the land, I doubt it would go over very well in the local area, even if it isn’t technically on campus.”
Energy secretary lauds UNM’s clean-power efforts by Luke Holmen holmen@unm.edu
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said New Mexico has the intellectual and natural resources to be an alternative-energy powerhouse. Chu hosted a town hall meeting at UNM’s School of Engineering to discuss the role of alternative energy in the future of America and the state of New Mexico. Chu praised UNM’s ability to create new jobs in tough economic times.
“We are in a recession and yet UNM is still speeding out new businesses,” he said. “I think this is because you have both great natural resources … and because you have the intellectual leadership here needed to succeed.” Following a meeting with top University officials, including UNM President David Schmidly, Chu fielded questions from UNM students in topics ranging from oil dependency to solar power. In a private interview with the Daily Lobo, Chu spoke about the role of UNM in energy development. “New Mexico has tremendous energy re-
Adria Malcolm / Daily Lobo U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu speaks with members of the UNM and Arizona State Solar Decathlon team about the future role of solar power in national energy policy. Chu conducted a town hall meeting at UNM’s school of Engineering Thursday focusing on education, regulation and the development of alternative fuel sources.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 116
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sources, particularly solar, and it also has a are safer because there a smaller chance of lot of the pieces that can help develop solar failure or damage to the facility, or harm to technology,” he said. “It’s going to be a race citizens. He said they are a good alternative to develop those technologies so we can in- to fossil fuels. vent and build things and ship them around “The nuclear reactors are safe, but we are the world.” going to look at what happened in Japan to Chu said the role of UNM in this energy make them even safer,” he said. “In terms of development is crucial. future nuclear plants, the ones being built “We have several great laboratories (in- and designed today are considerably better cluding) Sandia and Los Alamos, and of in many respects.” Prior to the town hall, Chu course the University will be partnering spoke with students from the Arizona State with those labs. Those inUniversity and UNM Solar stitutions will be part of Decathlon team. The team the intellectual fabric of will compete with 19 other the research enterprise teams from colleges and uniand development of those versities across the U.S. and technologies.” from around the world in a Chu addressed the comtwo-year project building ments President Barack solar-powered, highly enerObama made in his State of gy-efficient homes in Irvine, the Union address Tuesday Calif. The project is part of an ~Steven Chu about hydraulic fractureffort to increase awareness ing, a controversial drilling U.S. Secretary of Energy and research in the field of method which some envialternative energy. ronmentalists worry could Assistant professor of pollute water sources near drilling sites. Architecture and Planning Kristina Yu, who “I think, as the president said, and as many works with the team, said the decathlon gives state regulators are doing, there should be a students hands-on experience that laboratorequirement for companies doing hydraulic ry and classroom settings cannot. fracturing to list (the chemicals they are us“In a lab environment, you are working by ing in fracturing process),” he said. “Most of yourself or in a small group and in the real the companies are doing this and 95 percent world you need to work with lots of people,” of them see no problem with doing this. It’s she said. “Students learn things about comthe idea that we can and should have regula- munication and … administration they would tions to guide the companies.” never have otherwise been exposed to.” Chu said nuclear power will continue Steven Chu received a Nobel Prize in to play a role in U.S. energy policy, despite Physics in 1997 for his work in cooling and safety concerns brought on by an explo- trapping atoms with laser light. Prior to his sion at the Fukushima reactor in Japan fol- appointment as energy secretary, he served lowing an earthquake along the country’s as a professor of physics and biology at the coast in March. He said modern reactors University of California, Berkeley.
“We are in a recession and yet UNM is still speeding out new businesses.”
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