Midtown District Santa Fe
For additional news, please visit www.midtowndistrictsantafe.com for Midtown Monday updates subscribe here.
To view past Midtown Zoom meetings and Meet the Developer Series click on the links below:
May 4th Special Meeting where Councilor's Voted in Development Team (this took place on City of Santa Fe's YouTube page)
May 12th First Meet the Developer Meeting to address follow up questions (as there were conflicting meetings on City of Santa Fe's YouTube channel, there was a YouTube channel created for Midtown. You can subscribe here.
May 26th Meet the Developer Series: Education & Jobs
FAQ - click here for Midtown FAQs.
Special Midtown Meeting on May 4th where Governing Body entered into an exclusive negotiation agreement with the proposed developer - click here to view the meeting and here for the Exclusive Negotiation Agreement.
Developer introduction video of their team - click here.
What is the vision?
The City of Santa Fe is moving forward with one of the most transformative projects in the City’s history - the Midtown Santa Fe District located in the geographic center of the City. The 60-plus acre land parcel has a long important history in our City with many memories for many people. “It represents an exciting and once in a lifetime opportunity with the potential to have a tremendously positive impact on Santa Fe’s future”, said Mayor Alan Webber. Based on community input, the mixed-use development program will include market rate and affordable housing, higher education, arts and culture, entrepreneurial businesses and innovations in technology, film and digital entertainment, and programmed open space.
How do I get regular updates?
Click here for Midtown Mondays - a communication tool to keep the public informed regarding the status of redevelopment of the Midtown Santa Fe site.
From the Midtown Planning Guidelines:
“Over time, our community aspires for the Midtown LINC to be an essential hub of Santa Fe reflecting the city’s heritage and culture where all residents are invited to live, work, play, and learn. We want the Site to become the most creative location in the U.S. where a wide diversity of people interacts and collaborate to find their passions; build their skills for a great career; live in a thriving, vibrant neighborhood and city; and create a great future for our community, region and beyond.”
How are Developers being selected?
The City is strictly complying with the New Mexico Procurement Code to guide and manage the evaluation and selection process. While the procurement regulations require confidentiality of the contents of the respondents submission packages, the vision, goals, and criteria used for evaluation and ultimately selection of the master developer are clearly articulated in two very public documents:
The evaluation and selection process will occur in four main phases:
- RFEI Submission Packages Review
- Short-Listed Respondents – Request for Clarifications & Interviews
- Exclusivity Agreement with Finalist – Due Diligence and Negotiations
- Disposition & Development Agreement – Governing Body Approval
The procurement code dictates that the evaluation and selection process is ongoing until the Governing Body has approved the final negotiated terms of the Disposition and Development Agreement.
State Procurement Codes:
- Volume I - Developing Request for RFPs
State Procurement Code, Procurement Regulations, Executive Orders, etc.
How is the City engaging the public?
Public Engagement has been the compass of this project. Since the City first assumed full site management in the summer of 2018, the City undertook an open and concerted effort to engage the public. The Midtown Planning Guidelines were the result of a planning and design effort that included a broad spectrum of the City’s communities, which were subsequently approved by the Governing Body. These guidelines continue to serve as the foundation for the developer selection and development process.
Since the Midtown Planning Guidelines were publically reviewed and approved, the City continued to meet with local stakeholder communities and constituency groups to learn more about their goals for the redevelopment of the site and their potential involvement in the site's future.
Now that the City has received actual development proposals, the City has better information around which to engage various communities to continue building on the Midtown Planning Guidelines and establish and refine public policy and community development objectives. Starting in the first quarter of 2020, the City plans to work directly with various civic organizations to facilitate fun and interactive events that will engage the public in non-traditional and meaningful ways to harvest information that will inform the negotiations with the master developer for the disposition and development of Midtown Santa Fe.
Request for Expression of Interest
Midtown Property Planning Guidelines
Below you will find Pertinent Research
Press Conference announcing Midtown Site Guidelines
Midtown Property Planning Guidelines
Economic Analysis & Planning RFP - CLOSED
Guia para Planear - El Antiguo Colegio de Santa Fe
Resolution No. 2018-54 on Redeveloping Midtown
Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce Member Survey 2016
Aerial Photo of Property and Surrounding Area
History - The Midtown Santa Fe site has a long history that holds much endearing memories for many people. It served as an important military hospital in World War II and then as an academic campus for higher education. The Christian Brothers founded the first campus, St. Michael’s College (1947), which was renamed the College of Santa Fe (1965), upon academic accreditation. After nearly 70 years of operations, the Christian Brothers wound down operations. Recognizing the importance of this academic resource, the City of Santa Fe purchased the campus and leased it to Laureate Education, Inc., which established the Santa Fe University of Art and Design (2009). Laureate announced that they would conclude SFAUD operations in 2018, at which time the City assumed responsibilities for the site.
Today and Near Future - Through a transparent, open, and competitive process, the City will engage a master developer or developers to facilitate and ensure synergies between these uses to create a vibrant and dynamic 24/7 place for all of Santa Fe to live, learn, play, work, and play. Below are the primary uses:
- Mixed-Use / Residential
- Higher Education
- Arts, Culture, Design
- Open Space, Sports, Recreation
- Business Enterprises
The City is undertaking a progressive engagement process with three core constituencies to both inform and implement a transformative and visionary development at Midtown Santa Fe:
- Technical Professionals
- Communities
- Developers and Business Entities
The City will issue three important and inter-dependent solicitations for engaging these constituencies, as follows:
Economic Analysis & Urban Planning. The City will increase its capacity by procuring technical professionals with skills and experience analyzing the intersection between land uses and land values on large-scale urban development projects to advise and represent the City’s interests.
- Perform scenario planning
- Evaluate development proposals for the Midtown site
- Advise the City during the due diligence and negotiations process
- Inform the terms of disposition and development agreements with one or more developers and businesses
Community Engagement & Activation. The City will undertake an interactive civic engagement model as a partner with community organizations skilled in effective interaction with diverse communities in the entire City of Santa Fe.
- Work collaboratively to develop and implement a fun, interesting, and active engagement
- Include civic organizations, educational institutions, community organizations, philanthropy, businesses, and people from all communities
- Advise the City on developing just, equitable, and sustainable policies
- Outline programs and policies that stabilize and strengthen the capacity of local households and for- and non- profit businesses to remain a vital part of Santa Fe
- Address the potential of displacement and other unintentional consequences of development
Developers & Businesses. The City will work with mission-driven Developers and Businesses with a commitment to working collaboratively with the City to implement high-quality urban development, and experience in achieving just, equitable, and sustainable development objectives.
- Capable of developing and implementing large-scale developments that will be informed by public policies and community objectives
- Establish land uses, urban design, infrastructure, and public policies and amenities that will affect land values
- Undertake the necessary due diligence with the City (large businesses interested in purchasing existing assets, and medium to small businesses interested in locating at the Midtown site) to establish uses, rehabilitation, infrastructure, and public policy and amenities that will affect property values
These three solicitations will overlap in time into the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2019 to provide the City with the opportunity to vet assumptions and recommendations from a variety of perspectives at the same time – civic policy objectives, urban economics and land use, and development and implementation feasibility. The three perspectives are inextricably linked – one set of inputs should not supersede other inputs to ensure that they inform each other toward achieving the vision and goals overall redevelopment of the Midtown site.
Thank you for collaborating with us on the Midtown Campus Project.
There were nearly 400 people at in-person forums, and over 500 participated online.
Five great design teams created conceptual visions for the SFUAD property. People came together to imagine the site and new opportunities for future generations of Santa Fe. If you would like to read descriptions of the visions or watch designers present please click on the links below.
Click here to read descriptions of the five conceptual visions.
Click here to review their visual presentations.
Click here to watch 10 minute presentions by each design team.
Thank you for participating in the Midtown Campus Project Survey
The results are in: we got 2,234 submissions!
Overall, ideas for expansion and improvement of the property’s existing uses ranked highest. While uses such as office space for businesses or centralizing city government were not a priority.
Several themes emerged as priorities including evolve the film and emerging media industry, higher education (4 year college and vocational education), community resources (21st Century library, Greer Garson performing arts theater, The Screen movie theater), and innovation and entrepreneurship supported by an advanced maker space and technology hub.
For survey results from English speakers, click here.
For survey results from Spanish speakers, click here.
If people wanted to add to the survey, there was an open ended question. Those results can be accessed by clicking link: Envision the Future of Midtown Campus Survey Suggestions & Comments
The Midtown Campus Project Overview
As the Santa Fe University of Art & Design (SFUAD) moves closer to a 2018 closing date, the City of Santa Fe has been preparing for a once-in-a-generation opportunity to repurpose a true gem, located in the geographic center of our community. We can positively impact education, housing, economy, health care, entertainment, social equity, government services and the overall quality of life for our community while catalyzing the redevelopment of the St. Michael’s Midtown Local Innovation Corridor (LINC).
We are now reaching out to you, our incredible community, once more to help guide our efforts in creating a strategic vision for the future of this important property and our City.
We call this the Midtown Campus Project.
Sincerely,
The City of Santa Fe team of Councilor Mike Harris; Councilor Sig Lindell; Brian Snyder, City Manager; Kelley Brennan, City Attorney; Matt O'Reilly, Asset Manager; Adam Johnson, Finance Director; Matt Brown, Economic Development Director and project lead; and many other dedicated city staff and volunteers.
Quick Overview of Project Phases
Collection (1/22 to 2/26): We want to get your ideas and priorities for the property as called for in the SFUAD Resolution (2017-78) passed in October. We will use innovative collaboration activities and outreach via traditional surveys available online and in-person. This work will result in guidelines for the next phase.
Visioning (2/22 to 4/9): Santa Fe Art Institute will lead the work to recruit and qualify five great design teams to create a visual and written representation based on guidelines developed in the Collection phase. Midway during this phase, the teams may choose to share their work privately with small groups of residents to refine and adjust their concepts prior to their final submission.
Evaluation (4/10 to 4/23): Residents are invited to comment on, add improvements to, and vote for their favorite concepts, or parts thereof, from the Visioning phase. This will be done in person at three locations in the center and Southside of the City, as well as online to help ensure the maximum amount of participation.
For a full description of the Midtown Campus Project, click here.
Research informing the Midtown Campus Survey
This survey is built from research conducted recently, from last fall through this past week, as well as research conducted over the last few years such as Culture Connects, RE:MIKE and NCS surveys. We collected all of the top ideas and needs generated by residents to create a list of possible uses for the SFUAD property.
Santa Fe Crossroads Report 2017
NCS Santa Fe Community Livability Report
NCS Presentation Santa Fe 2017
Bureau of Business And Economic Research Forecast
County Economic Projections 2013 - 2030
Santa Fe Advance from Santa Fe Community Foundation
Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce Member Survey 2016
Aerial Photo of Property and Surrounding Area
Midtown Campus Project Description
Design Guidelines for Site at Santa Fe University of Art & Design Briefing [PDF]
The five conceptual descriptions for the Midtown Campus visions:
- Midtown Motion [PDF]
- Midtown Fusion [PDF]
- Midtown Ecodistrict [PDF]
- Watershed Description [PDF]
- Collaborate & Connect [PDF]
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