Belen mixed-use project breaks ground, bringing apartments and shops
Belen’s west-side growth corridor broke ground with 96 apartments, 13,000 square feet of retail and dining, and a plan pitched below market rate.
Belen’s newest growth project moved from planning to dirt work as the Sanchez family broke ground on phase one of a mixed-use development south of Camino del Llano, a site that is expected to bring 96 apartments in the first stage and nearly 300 units overall, along with 13,000 square feet of retail and dining space near Sunrise Bluffs.
The ceremony took place May 5 at 6 p.m. about 0.23 miles south of Sunrise Bluffs on the frontage road, where local Catholic clergy, including Our Lady of Belen Pastor John Kimani and Father Albert Mutebi Ssekabembe, blessed the land before the shovels went in. City and business leaders gathered at the site, which sits on the west side of Interstate 25 in a corridor Belen has identified as central to its next wave of residential and commercial expansion.
The project is being led by the family of the late Dr. Roland K. Sanchez, along with Modulus Architects & Land Use Planning and Sleeping Indian Ranch, LLC. Elia Sanchez, Dr. Sanchez’s widow, said the family first approached city leaders with the idea and was encouraged by how quickly the project began to come together.
The broader site plan approved by the Belen City Council in October 2025 called for six 24-unit buildings and five 36-unit buildings, plus a clubhouse and event space, a swimming pool and hot tub, cabanas, fire pits, barbecue areas, walking paths, seating areas and a landscaped ponding area. The commercial portion included 13,000 square feet of retail and dining, an outdoor patio and 76 parking spaces. A developer representative told council in October that the apartments would be priced below market rate, a detail that placed the project squarely in Belen’s housing-affordability debate. Residents from the Sunrise Bluffs subdivision raised concerns then about frontage-road conditions and the traffic that a new complex could bring.
The development also fits Belen’s broader push to grow along Interstate 25. City officials say the area has three interstate interchanges and key rail and airport assets, including the southern stop of the New Mexico Rail Runner Express, a major BNSF rail presence and Valencia County’s only municipal airport. Belen says it serves a local population of more than 21,000 residents, including more than 7,200 in the city itself, and its long-range plan, adopted January 3, 2023, put housing, transportation access and economic development at the center of future planning.
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