For the Pojoaque Pueblo, it's location and commitment

New Mexico Business Journal, June, 1995

Location, as the old saw goes, is everything, and in that sense Pojoaque has been blessed; their chief resource is their land. Lying on a three-way crossroad connecting Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Espanola, the tribe has an excellent base for the development of a variety of both tribal and non-tribal enterprises. "If anyone wants to be between Los Alamos, Santa Fe and Espanola," says Pojoaque Pueblo Economic Development Corp. general manager Dan Drake, "this is the place."

Tribally owned businesses make up a significant part of the economic development plan at Pojoaque, with a new, expanded casino now in the works, a visitor and cultural center drawing thousands of visitors each year, a restaurant serving traditional and regional cuisines, a shopping center housing both tribally owned and private businesses, and other small-scale service operations along their 281 corridor. In addition, the tribe operates a large trailer park that provides housing for mainly non-tribal members who work throughout the three-city area.

Leases are another important aspect of the Pojoaque development scheme, and that sector of their development plan is expanding almost exponentially, using mainly 72 acres of tribally owned highway frontage to attract local and regional firms. Pojoaque Pueblo Enterprise Corp. president James Rivera says, "Los Alamos Credit Union is a tenant that just signed a lease with us. We built a building for them, which is the first part of a business park we're developing."

Tribal plans to build a 20,000 sq. ft. supermarket will flee up space in the Pojoaque-owned strip center that houses many tribal and non-tribal businesses. That expansion will free up yet more space for some of many potential tenants who wish to locate in this strategic location. "We have to turn people away constantly due to lack of resources," says Rivera. "Of course, we have to be conscious of the environment itself; we're very concerned about that. Water resources are limited in this high desert region; those are the perameters we have to operate in."

Gaming revenues are being used to support both partnerships and cultural development. The tribe has already built a traditional kiva with support from gaming revenues, and other tribally owned concerns have also benefitted from gaming, which in turn creates new employment and training possibilities for tribal members and others in the area. Another casino is planned, to be called "Cities of Gold," and should increase tribal revenues substantially.

Another of the tribe's enterprises is the Pojoaque Construction Services, which currently employs 15 tribal members.

Rivera says Pojoaque is looking at the possibility of opening a major hotel and resort complex "down the road." All the economic activity at Pojoaque has expanded the employment possibilities for residents living throughout the Espanola and Pojoaque valleys. And for the tribe itself?. Rivera says, "Over the last two and a half years, our unemployment rate has dropped to almost nothing."