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Las Cruces Main Street Downtown

The Project

On November 1, 2004, The Las Cruces City Council approved a contract to proceed with the implementation of planning, design, and economic development strategies outlined in the Downtown Revitalization Plan.  Your participation in this process is encouraged, as it is the community that will guide the process of determining what Downtown Las Cruces will look like, feel like, and how it will function.

Current News

Logo

Your choice for a new name has helped produce a new logo for Main Street Downtown!  Through an interactive and extensive input process, Vaughn Wedeen Creative has produce a great new look for the City.  The logo represents the heritage of Las Cruces, specifically the use of iron work locally.  Also notice the symbol of the heart, representing the downtown as the heart of the City.  Be on the lookout for the logo as it is incorporated in print media and eventually in the new phases of downtown construction, including the soon-to-be-built Main Street Plaza.

Main Street Plaza

The construction work for Phase I: Main Street Plaza is now well underway!  All of the trees on the east side of the street were re-located to other City Parks and are doing very well in their new homes,  The contractor, CSC, Inc has already finished installing sewer lines in Main Street and is moving quickly to finish all underground utility work.  The entire phase should be completed before the end of the year!  This first portion of the plaza will be the re-opening and re-building of Main Street between Griggs Street and Las Cruces Avenue.  The entire portion will be built pedestrian friendly, with the idea that it will serve as one portion of the new location for the Farmers & Crafts Market.  Although the street will be open to traffic during most times of the day, it will be closed off to automobiles on market days and other special events.

Metropolitan Redevelopment Area 

City staff is currently working on establishing a Metropolitan Redevelopment Area (MRA) downtown.  An MRA is a designated area within the City deemed by City officials and the public to need renovation and improvement because of deteriorated or deteriorating structures, defective or inadequate infrastructure, under-performing economic conditions, and other factors in order to promote improved utilization of an area that will positively impact property owners and the general public.  An MRA is an economic development tool put in place by the State of New Mexico that allows municipalities to specific tools in redevelopment of underutilized areas.  Some of the benefits of an MRA include: 

• Relaxed Anti-Donation Clause requirements

• The ability to implement Tax-Increment Financing within the district

• City assistance with building renovation

And all of this comes at no additional cost to the taxpayers!  Programs and infrastructure improvements are handled through Tax-Increment Financing (TIF).  TIF is not an increase in taxes, but is actually just a reallocation of property taxes to the district itself.  Property taxes are set the first year of a TIF, and any subsequent natural rise in property taxes over a 20 year period are only allowed to be spent in the district in which they were obtained.  This means that the property taxes that individuals pay in the MRA to the City go back into making their district a better place to own property and do business!  Read the MRA Designation Final Report here.

For more information about Metropolitan Redevelopment Areas and Tax-Increment Financing, please contact Brian Harper at 541-2289.

NAME YOUR DOWNTOWN!

On June 20, 2005, Resolution No. 05-379 was approved by the City Council, authorizing staff to engage in a public voting process to determine a new Destination Location Name for downtown.  The four choices were presented to the public for consideration over a period of two weeks prior to voting, which was held over a one week period from August 5-12, 2005.  The results of that voting process are now complete and can be broken down as follows:

The public has spoken!  The new name for your downtown is:  Main Street Downtown!

Related Information

To access the Downtown Revitalization Plan, project schedule, notices of meetings, presentations and meeting notes, please visit our downtown information files.

Downtown Information Files

Have Your Say!