LA Apartments filed for bankruptcy in 2008. The County Council purchased the property from HUD in October 2008, prior to any public auction, for approximately $1.2 million. Four of the five buildings are slated to be demolished. The apartments are located east of the Bradbury Science Museum (along Central Avenue in downtown Los Alamos). The fifth building will house low income tenants and all tenants have been relocated to the building. There is no plan in place for use of the site once it is cleared; however, it is currently being considered as one of two sites for placement of a new Municipal Building. It has also been discussed as a potential site for redevelopment for economic impacts which would be favorable to the revitalization of the downtown area.

News and Updates as of  January 11, 2010: 

Demolition of the former Los Alamos Apartments is now underway beginning with the far western building (Building 1175). The Contractor will continue abating, stripping and then demolishing the building to the east (Building 1305) then move to the last two remaining buildings to the east (Buildings 1075 and 1013) over the next few months. Building 939, as well as the adjacent parking lot immediately to the west is still in use and occupied; residents in this building will be kept protected with temporary fencing to isolate the demolition operations.   

Motorists traveling on Central Avenue may see large equipment working and subsequently will hear noise typically associated with any demolition project. This stage of the process is expected to be accomplished from December through the end of the project in April. Waste is expected to be hauled away in large trucks turning east onto Central then south onto Knecht Street (formerly known as “Wall Street”) to turn west onto Trinity Drive and take the truck route to the Sandoval County Landfill for disposal. The site will be completely cleared and remediation/reseeding will occur next spring and summer. The contractor has been directed to preserve landscaping and trees located away from the buildings.  

Project Budget:

The contract for demolition was awarded in October. The budget was established as part of the CIP application process and has an approved FY10 budget allocation of $3,788,653. However, bids came in lower than expected, and Staff requested that Council establish an associated project budget in the amount of $1,456,906.

Project Schedule:

The project should be substantially completed by April 2010, with final completion by July 31, 2010.