Moving fast

New Mexico Business Journal, August, 2000 by Debbra O'Hara

With more than one million sq. ft. of industrial space and residential development in sight, Santa Teresa is booming.

Preparation seems to be the catchword for southern Dona Ana County industry leaders and politicians. As the economy and infrastructure of the region change rapidly, they promise prosperity to communities that can keep up with the frenetic pace and plan for the future.

In Santa Teresa, investors are pumping about $1 million each week into the development effort, according to Mark Lautman, president of Santa Teresa Real Estate Development Corporation (STRED) As a result, Santa Teresa currently is home to more industrial-grade spec-building space than can be found in the rest of the state's communities combined.

"That is significant because in last 20 years there has been no spec space built in New Mexico," Lautman said. "It's a real risk. Most banks won't give you a loan, so you have to do it with your own money. We've been doing it for two years."

Tenants of the park all service and supply businesses in Mexico, primarily Chihuahua, the most industrial state in the Republic of Mexico. Goods produced in Santa Teresa go to Mexico for assembly into other products, then return to the United States for distribution out of New Mexico.

"This has always been the promise of Santa Teresa. New Mexico's bet for getting into international trade export business," Lautman said.

Santa Teresa currently boasts a job-creation rate of 2.5 new positions each day. Within five years that figure could easily double. Most of the jobs are vocational in nature-light-equipment operation, welding, etc.,- but low- and middle-management and clerical and office support positions are also increasing.

"The unique thing about Santa Teresa is we know what kind of jobs are coming- most communities don't--so the workforce development people down here have it absolutely easiest. It should be a no-brainer," Lautman said. If our workforce is not ready to fill those jobs, companies will have to bring in employees from other stares. "We know how many metal workers and logistics people we are going to need. If in 10 years our ratio of New Mexicans to out of state is lopsided, it will be our own fault."

Chris Lyons has been waiting impatiently for things to happen. He is president of Fairfax Properties, the Santa Fe-based owner of more than 20,000 acres in and around Santa Teresa. Fairfax, by a wide margin, is the area's largest landowner. The biggest roadblock to development has been the availability of adequate water and sewer facilities, but the county's new water systems are now pretty much in place and the sewer plant is expected to go to bid shortly. "This is all very encouraging," Lyons said. "And a million square feet of industrial space has to be considered a boom."

Lyons's special interest is residential development in Santa Teresa. His company is working with an Arizona developer and expects to begin building next year. "We plan to start with a town center," he said, "and build from there. There's a lot in Santa Fe we can mirror down here. One advantage of being on the border is that we can showcase New Mexico architecture and its architectural standards."

Lyons envisions a community developed on the "new urbanism" philosophy. "We don't want unplanned, unbridled growth," he said.

In the nearby city of Sunland Park, the majority of residents work for Santa Teresa Industrial Park tenants, according to Mayor Jesus Ruben Segura. Hoping to reduce its 11.8 percent unemployment rate, the city is working with New Mexico Works program and the Dona Ana Branch Community College "to get our people technically qualified to go into those jobs," he said.

Sunland Park is preparing for the effects of the explosive growth expected at Santa Teresa by chasing, and catching, "other people's money" to pay for basic infrastructure needs, according to community development director Larry Shannon. A regional water and waste water system to benefit all of the communities south of Las Cruces is under construction. A transit system to serve area commuters is under development, and grants and loans have been procured for quality of life projects such as lighting, pools, and libraries.

The money must come from outside Sunland Park because its citizens cannot support such improvements with a per capita income of $3,424. County Commissioner Carlos Garza said the residential population of the south valley is so poor and the tax basis is so lean that no local resources are generated to address environmental and health hazards. He gave as an example the unstructured subdivisions in the area, growing at two to three percent a year. In these subdivisions, property owners often sink a well and put a septic tank on the same plot of land.

"The environmental risks can only be addressed by putting them on urban, well-managed utility systems," Garza said. "We can use grant money to get them built, but once it's built, you need people to make enough money to pay their bills, to form a rate base. We can't aggregate enough rate payers to pay the operating costs for the utilities."