There have been almost 500 building permits issued around the Innovation Corridor in the past year, which Mayor Richard Berry takes as a sign of good faith from the city's business community.

From March 16, 2016, through last Thursday, 490 permits were issued within the corridor's perimeters — five-eighths of a mile from Central Avenue between Unser Boulevard SW and Tramway Boulevard SE — with a total valuation close to $90.5 million.

In the last month, there have been 31 such permits with a nearly $17 million valuation, according to the city.

Innovate ABQ will be the epicenter of the 18-mile-long Innovation Corridor while the $119 million Albuquerque Rapid Transit will serve as transportation along most of it. There are other initiatives in the works to marry pedestrian accommodations to the area as well.

"Every time we get these additional projects, it tells me that our city has people that are willing to invest," Berry said to Albuquerque Business First. "People are willing to put in their hard-earned dollars into our city, number one. Number two, they're doing it inside our transit corridor — that's what the experts told us to look for — and we haven't even gotten halfway through the project."

He said people have been buying buildings along ART's route before it even broke ground. He also said he was told to expect upwards of $2 billion in investments along the corridor.

Of the 490 permits issued in the last year, 305 were for commercial purposes, totaling more than $80.8 million. Such businesses moving into the Innovation Corridor, but who didn't necessarily receive their permit within the last year, include the expansion of Frost Gelato Shop in Nob Hill.

"The fact that people are migrating to the corridor now with investments I think bodes well for the city, bodes well for the corridor and it kind of shows us that the experts knew what they were talking about," Berry said.

Residential

The other 185 permits issued within the Innovation Corridor in the last year were residential and totaled more than $9.6 million.

One housing project slated to pop up in the area, which also may not have been issued a permit in the last year, is 505 Central, a mixed-use building at the corner of 5th Street and Central Avenue. It will hold 34 lofts, office and retail space, restaurant space and a second Humble Coffee Company location.

Berry said he is still waiting to see more dense housing projects develop around the corridor — another thing economic experts advised him to expect.

The Innovation Corridor also includes the University of New Mexico's central campus, Old Town and Downtown. Lola Bird, director of the DowntownABQ MainStreet Initiative, previously told Business First that increasing livability in that area was one of the organization's top goals.

News of the residential permits, though unclear if any of them will be Downtown, gives Bird confidence that more private sector investments will follow improved resident amenities. Click here to read the full article.