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Multifamily Communities

Revving up Route 66

El Vado Place

The historic El Vado Motel greeted Route 66 travelers for many decades after first turning on its neon sign in 1937. In an effort to restore the once vibrant motel, Palindrome Communities and the City of Albuquerque's Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency worked to redevelop the 1.437-acre site by renovating the historic motel and adding two new mixed-use buildings called El Vado Place.

Designed in the Pueblo Revival style to complement the design of the historic motel, El Vado Place includes a larger building with 6,500sf of retail space and a smaller building with 3,700sf of restaurant space. Combined, the buildings provide 10,200sf of ground-level retail and restaurant space, plus 32 apartment homes.

Each building has one accessible live/work unit on the ground level. The other 30 units are two-bedroom, two-bath apartments located on the second and third floors. Residents can overlook Route 66 and the nearby ABQ BioPark from a large shaded roof deck on the second level. An exterior breezeway overlooks the residents' private garden.

El Vado Place shares parking with the renovated El Vado Motel. The renovation, led by Design Plus Architects, includes the El Vado Boutique Hotel, conference center, brewery, and food truck pop-up.

Low water use plantings are cohesive through the entire site.

Client
Palindrome Communities

Location
Albuquerque, New Mexico

Size
25,001-50,000 sf

Disciplines

Beyond the Building

  • Community Benefit
  • Creating Partnerships
  • Experience Redefined
  • Extreme Makeover

 

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