Update: August 27, 2010

Committee Reviews 5 Proposals for Trinity Site 

On Friday, August 6, the County received proposals from five developers: 

1.    North American Development Group, which owns and manages over 10 million square feet of existing shopping center space in the U.S and Canada.

2.    Regency Centers, a leading national owner, operator, and developer of grocery-anchored and community shopping centers across the country. Regency has developed 201 centers since 2000 worth over $3 billion.

3.    Levey Company, a private company with significant experience with shopping centers across the country, especially in the northeast.

4.  Lockard Development, a privately-held company which has developed retail, office, and mixed-use projects in 23 states across the county, and has expertise in large, multi-phase land development projects.

5.  Branch Realty, a privately held firm from Santa Fe, who has developed retail at the Railyard and elsewhere in Santa Fe, including several centers at Zafarano Drive.

This is a strong showing of interest in the project. Armstrong Development, Flintridge Partners, Zeremba Retail and Glimcher chose not to submit. The proposals were reviewed by the County Administrator, Economic Vitality Administrator, and Trinity Site Revitalization Project Committee on August 25th. This was the first of several meetings for the Committee. The comprehensive proposal review will include interviews of the submitters and a determination of which proposals will be recommended for Council consideration. The goal is to take recommendations to the Council early in October.

All proposals, once reviewed, will be placed here on the County's website, in the 311 Center, and the two public libraries. Watch this webpage for further details and the posting of the proposals!

About the Trinity Site Revitalization Project Committee...

A newly expanded TSRP Committee (to include more citizens) is meeting with County Administrator Anthony Mortillaro and new Economic Vitality Administrator Scott Frederick.

The members are: Diana Martinez, Lynn Ovaska, Andrea Cunningham, Bill Enloe, Denny Erickson, Patricia Wells, Eugene Schmidt, George Chandler, Kristen Henderson, Lou Santoro, Kevin Holsapple and Stan Primak.  

Project Schedule

In March 2010, the County hired Jones Lang LaSalle, a global real estate firm with significant expertise in assisting public sector clients in engaging and negotiating with private developers for public-private partnerships, to assist in finding a new developer.  The schedule to secure a new developer is aggressive—the goal is to send out the request for proposals, evaluate them, develop a short list, and select the top developer by fall of this year.

The Trinity Site Demolition project is still moving forward. All County offices, including the Annex, were relocated by the end of March to either Airport Basin Site or new temporary office locations around Los Alamos. Schools' staff  in the Administration building are currently packing up to move to new space at 2075 Trinity Drive. The Trinity Site is still on track to be completely cleared by this fall (August/September time frame), which runs in parallel to the search for a new developer.

County Staff were specifically directed by Council to develop and document a Public Information & Involvement Plan, with assistance and buy in from the Committee. Several members of the Committee attended the Council's April 7, 2010 meeting where the project approach was discussed, and gave comments to the Council about the process and the need to move forward, along with the urgent need to "re-engage the public". The Council is very interested in the public being re-engaged and involved in the next few months as proposals come forward. For more information, download the April 7 Council meeting agenda documents when you link here.  

Previous Postings:

State Board of Finance Approves Schools Lease Agreement for Trinity

Los Alamos County officials joined the School District in December 2009 at the State Board of Finance (SBOF) monthly meeting held in Santa Fe, when the Board considered the County/Schools Trinity Site lease agreement that had been approved by both entities in November 2009. Members of the School Board, Council, Administration and Staff attended the meeting. Presentations were made by Board President Joan Ahlers, Council Chair Michael Wheeler and County Administrator Anthony Mortillaro. The agreements, which are favorable for the Schools to gain long term benefits from the lease of the Trinity Site for retail and other mixed-use development, was an emphasis.  The State Board of Finance has broad statutory responsibilities for general supervision of the fiscal affairs of the State, in addition to other regulatory and oversight functions. 

The SBOF staff offered only minor suggestions to the lease agreement. Their contingency approval was solely related to provide the SBOF with a signed version of the document, as revised, after the two entities have approved it. The County updated the documents with the suggested changes and took the revised documents back to the School Board and Council in January to approve.  

Council/Schools Approve Lease Agreements:

After two months of discussion and public comment, the Council voted on Sept. 29, 2009 to end their exclusive agreement with The Boyer Company. Much of the discussion that evening centered on the last two years of negotiations with Boyer and whether or not Boyer's proposed lifestyle center ("The Trinity Place") was a site plan that the Council wished to pursue. They discussed differences in what was first proposed by Boyer in 2007 versus the site plan that is being proposed today, which had been downsized as the project progressed. Here is the motion from the Clerk's office: 

A.           Moving Forward on Trinity Site Redevelopment Project:  Whether to move forward with Boyer Company as the developer or direct another path forward. 

Councilor Gibson moved, seconded by Councilor Phelps, 1) Council  affirms its objective of bringing a substantial increase in competitive retail opportunities to Los Alamos; 2) The County immediately discontinue exclusive negotiations with the Boyer Company for the redevelopment of the Trinity Site; 3) Council directs staff to explore with interested and capable parties, including Boyer Company, further interest in developing a lifestyle center or other retail opportunities on Trinity Site.  Staff may propose to employ an agent to assist this endeavor.  Staff should consider broadening community involvement in its advisory committee; 4) Council directs staff to initiate discussions with the owner of Mari-Mac Shopping Center about coordination of plans for it with those for Trinity Site; and 5) Council expects any proposal to develop the Trinity Site to be economically viable on its own, not requiring taxpayer subsidy unless part of an economically beneficial public-private partnership, and to maintain or improve retail market competitiveness in Los Alamos County. The motion passed 6 – 1, Councilor Chiravalle was opposed.