Albuquerque commits $40,000 to advance Old Town business district plan
Albuquerque put $40,000 behind an Old Town BID push that could shift long-term control of cleaning, security and marketing to property owners.
Albuquerque has committed $40,000 to help move Old Town’s business improvement district plan forward, with another $10,000 from Councilor Joaquín Baca as organizers work to line up property-owner support. The money is meant to pay for a feasibility study, a management-plan framework and petition support for a district that is not yet approved.
The work will proceed in phases, starting with orientation, field work, database refinement, stakeholder engagement and a feasibility assessment. Progressive Urban Management Associates, the consultant that helped jumpstart downtown Albuquerque’s BID effort, is also helping on Old Town. Economic Development Director Max Gruner: “the city's role is to ‘set the table’ and support a business-led process.”
The district cannot move to City Council approval unless organizers win support from at least 51% of property owners in the proposed area. Historic Old Town Association President J.J. Mancini: the group wants feedback from everyone, including critics, because the district will only work if there is broad buy-in. The nonprofit, created four years ago, already runs a safety and security committee financed by voluntary monthly fees from property owners, residents and merchants.
If approved, the BID would create a more permanent funding stream for cleaning, maintenance, security, marketing and other upkeep that individual merchants rarely can cover alone. For Old Town businesses, that could mean more stable services and more coordinated promotion in a district that depends on foot traffic and tourism. For property owners, it would also mean a formal assessment structure and a new layer of local control over how the area is managed.
Downtown once had a BID from 2000 to 2014, but a court ruling in 2014 found the city improperly renewed it, ending the district.
Old Town traces back to 1706 under Governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés and centers on the historic plaza and roughly 10 blocks of adobe buildings. The area includes more than 150 galleries, shops, restaurants and museums in Visit Albuquerque's directory, and New Mexico MainStreet added Historic Old Town Albuquerque to its Urban Neighborhood Commercial Corridor initiative in 2024.
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