S I T E S E L E C T I O N SEPTEMBER 2018 195196 SEPTEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NINTRODUCTIONALBUQUERQUE INTELLIGENCE REPORTThe influence of culture in Albuquerque is so pronounced that even the area’s unique new bus-rapid-transit (BRT) project gets to be called ART. Which allows Kim Hedrick, COO of Molina Healthcare, to say things like “There is no segment of the population that ART won’t benefit.” It’s not the only example of regional synchronicity across the spheres of ABQ business, education, health, family and the arts and sciences.The new 505 Central mixed-use loft redevelopment of a former Sears building downtown is conveniently located in a resurgent center city, and has a street address that matches the region’s area code.The stadium where the Triple-A Albuqerque Isotopes play is known by everyone as “The Lab” — a nod to Sandia National Laboratories just down the road. It’s also where the newest United Soccer League team in the nation will start play in 2019, becoming New Mexico’s first professional soccer franchise.“This new professional soccer franchise is the vehicle, but our vision is much bigger than soccer,” said President and Team Owner Peter Trevisani in announcing the new team in June 2018. “Our passion is for the sport and the power it has to uplift and transform communities.”Trevisani’s soccer team will be arriving in a metro that’s seen the population rise by nearly 2.7 percent since 2010 (almost 25,000 new residents) to around 911,000. All the more people to enjoy a paleta at the Rail Yards Market, stroll through the BioPark, take in the city’s lively murals and lowrider scene, and benefit from one of the best large-city school districts in the nation. It’s easy to see why the metro area just ranked No. 4 in Livability’s 2018 10 Best Cities for STEM Workers, the type of talent that’s been flowing into the area ever since a flight training school became Kirtland Air Force Base.That focus is still there, but you’re just as likely to discover other layers. For instance, the work of ABQ native Elizabeth (Liz) Kistin Keller, a Rhodes scholar with advanced degrees in international development who’s a principal systems analyst at Sandia and an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico, has focused on management of water resources. She’s also the wife of new Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, whose “Reach,” a mural by artist Mark Horst, adorns the side of HB Construction’s headquarters in Albuquerque.Photo courtesy of Studio Hill Design and MurosABQALBUQUERQUE INTELLIGENCE REPORTeconomic development vision, announced in July, “focuses on creating more economic opportunities for our families, our local businesses, and our homegrown entrepreneurs.” His approach includes an annual service campaign called the One ABQ Challenge that this year focuses on connecting youth and the elderly. He recognized Bosque Heating and Cooling for their efforts to assist a 92-year-old woman unable to afford a pipe repair.Bosque is a type of riparian forest along river floodplains, and is associated with a number of hiking areas in New Mexico, (including a cottonwood park right in the city) as well as Bosque Brewing Co., an ABQ outfit that just refurbished the classic Jackalope building in Bernalillo County in order to expand to a second location.Trevisani’s fellow USL team owners all have New Mexico roots or have raised their families there. They include Sandia Holdings Founding Partner Ian McKinnon from Connecticut; Ed Garcia, executive chairman of the Garcia Family of Companies (which has gone from car dealerships to opening a new Taos Lightning whiskey distillery in downtown ABQ); Ben Spencer, CEO of Titan Development; and Jason Harrington, CEO of HB Construction.If you visit HB’s headquarters in the city, you’ll come full circle from business back to art, because there you will find, on a huge scale across the entire length of the building, a mural entitled “Reach” from artist Mark Horst.“I was painting while some of his crew was building out their offices,” Horst tells me, “and the work they did was beautiful — exposing old headers and grinding old concrete to look like fine terrazzo. [HB CFO] Adam Harrington was extremely generous and helpful — a great guy. “Working with HB was a treat for me,” Horst says. “The whole organization is professional, yet human.”Greater Albuquerque, it seems, allows you to be many things at once. — Adam Bruns, Managing Editor, Site SelectionCITY ON THE PROWLHow ABQ Landed ‘Project Wolf ’Greater Albuquerque is on a roll in 2018, with projects cascading into downtown. But none of these new projects compare to the job creation expected from TaskUs. The California-based business process outsourcing firm announced in August a new $9-million technical operations and customer experience center in downtown Albuquerque, which beat out locations in Texas, Nevada and Utah.“TaskUs is rapidly expanding across the globe,” said TaskUs CEO Bryce Maddock. “In the past two years, we have hired 2,000 teammates at our three locations in Texas. Albuquerque provides a wealth of talent and an emerging tech scene, which is the perfect combination for TaskUs. We plan to hire nearly 700 teammates in our downtown location and hope to continue growing well beyond this in the city and state.”The news comes on the heels of a $250-million investment by Blackstone in TaskUs, which got its start a decade ago as a virtual personal assistant outfit. The Santa Monica–based company has offices around the world, including 10,000 working out of five locations in the Philippines.The center is going into the First Plaza building, owned by Garcia Realty and Development. “TaskUs merges talent and technology to solve modern business problems, and Albuquerque is brimming with intelligence and talent,” said Edward T. Garcia.In an interview, TaskUs Vice President of Expansion and Growth Jon Wouters says the project got rolling as the company was expanding its footprint in San Antonio, Texas.“We knew that once those buildouts were complete, it made sense to start planning our next domestic site somewhere else,” he says. “JLL put together a site selection report based on our preferred criteria,” which included being near the Pacific Time Zone, having easy access to major U.S. cities, being in an area with a population under 2 million, and competitive labor and operating costs.198 SEPTEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NPROJECT SNAPSHOTALBUQUERQUE INTELLIGENCE REPORTBryce MaddockUnlike the stereotypical BPO or customer service center firm, TaskUs workspaces feature corporate campus-like amenities such as lounge and recreation areas.Photo courtesy of TaskUs S I T E S E L E C T I O N SEPTEMBER 2018 199ALBUQUERQUE INTELLIGENCE REPORTJLL and EY accompanied him on exploratory visits to Reno, Salt Lake City, and Albuquerque, says Wouters, who calls the total $3-million city/state incentive package “very attractive.” Such visits are helped by memorable arrivals: “ABQ Sunport is a great introduction to the city,” he says of the expanding airport’s “wide open spaces and vistas of mountains,” which for him trigger fond memories of New Mexico from having gone to Philmont Scout Ranch as a teen.He also singled out the efforts of Albuquerque Economic Development, Inc. “Gary Tonjes and the team at AED organized comprehensive trips where I could interview local employers, meet with recruiters, and get a good sense of ABQ,” he says. “Everyone I’ve met is an enthusiastic New Mexican, even if they are transplants.” As for downtown ABQ, “The narrative that I took away from this process is that people love downtown ABQ, and would love to work there. There are a number of startups and incubation spaces that point to this resurgence. Both UNM and CNM are putting out a lot of graduates, and the key is to be able to provide employment opportunities locally.”TaskUs is growing fast. What might that mean for New Mexic? “I’ll say this — we didn’t know what to expect when we piloted our first campaign in San Antonio two years ago with four FTEs,” he says. “We’ll have 2,000 employees in the San Antonio region by the end of this year. Globally, we’re excited to explore Europe, Asia, and South America.”But for now it’s time to explore bringing the unique TaskUs culture to a unique multicultural crossroads in the Southwest.“Typical BPO companies are looking for big boxes or office parks for their operations,” Wouters says. “That’s not necessarily bad, but we like to do things a bit differently. Smack dab in the middle of downtown in a historic and iconic building? Yes, please.” Jon WoutersLarge and small enterprises find Greater Albuquerque to their liking.On the southern end of Metro Albuquerque, in the Village of Los Lunas (pop. 15,000), Facebook is investing more than $1 billion in a six-building, 2.8-million-sq.-ft. (260,120-sq.-m.) data center complex that will bring in its own layers of accompanying infrastructure, services and amenities. The project site is seeing 1,200 construction workers, electricians and contractors a day spending their money in the area over a construction period expected to stretch for at least six years. New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez in 2015 led an economic development team, which included Albuquerque Economic Development’s Gary Tonjes, to Northern California to meet with company executives and highlight New Mexico’s growing competitiveness for jobs and investment. AED led the recruitment effort to win the project. In September 2016, the company initially announced it had selected New Mexico for its newest data center, citing the state’s competitive business climate, strong workforce, commitment to infrastructure investment and opportunities for renewable energy development (a 200-acre solar plant will help the site achieve 100-percent renewable power provision). The decision to further expand to the full six-building footprint came in November 2017.Ralph Mims, economic development manager for the Village of Los Lunas, says the project’s effects already have increased gross receipts tax revenue tremendously, in addition to promising economic churn until 200 SEPTEMBER 2018 SI T E S E L E C T IO NIN GOOD COMPANY: HIGH-TECH INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURIALISMALBUQUERQUE INTELLIGENCE REPORTAbstract Landscapes, runs through the end of October at ARTECHOUSE Albuquerque, dedicated to showcasing experiential and technology-driven works “by artists who are forerunners of the new age in the arts and technology.”Photo courtesy of AMCB(Continued on page 204Next >