Oct. 1—A hub for business and community has emerged along the San Pedro corridor, aiming to spur new ideas and support for the area amid plans to redevelop the longtime State Fair site.
The nonprofit Revitalize San Pedro Partnership, a Main Street organization, opened a small business office at 1307 San Pedro NE last week. The office will serve as headquarters for the nonprofit, which works to revitalize the San Pedro Main Street corridor between Interstate 40 and Central.
The office will also serve as a public hub for businesses and community members to meet and collaborate with the nonprofit to create safer streets, spur more small business support and celebrate the area’s history and identity, said Adrian Carver, Revitalize San Pedro Partnership’s executive director.
It will do so through offering small businesses technical assistance, helping recruit them into vacant spaces, allowing them to use the office to network with each other and engaging community members in local initiatives.
The space will also be used to gather community input on the redevelopment plans for the fairgrounds as they continue to unfold. A public meeting was held in late September to gather community feedback on the project, drawing both support and opposition, and two more will be held in the coming months.
“Our job is pretty simple. (It’s) to make sure that San Pedro is a welcoming, vibrant place for everybody who lives (in), works (in) and visits the area,” Carver said. “We want to make sure that people can stay in their neighborhoods, they can succeed and they can shape what comes next.”
Revitalize San Pedro Partnership, or RSPP, was formed as an official nonprofit in 2023, but is predated by more than 15 years of the surrounding community and neighborhood associations informally gathering and organizing for the purpose of revitalizing the area, Carver said.
The corridor — occupied by Albuquerque’s first electrified suburban subdivisions, according to Carver — today encompasses residential communities and a commercial strip that partially borders Expo New Mexico, the longtime home of the New Mexico State Fair.
The nonprofit has stayed busy revitalizing the area since its creation two years ago. RSPP launched a Mile Hi Streetscape Enhancement Project, which has received $1.1 million in capital outlay funds from state legislators. Work on the project is expected to start next year and will widen sidewalks, add new landscaping and create stormwater infrastructure to help with flooding along San Pedro Drive.
The organization is also leading efforts to clean up the corridor’s storefronts, beautify surrounding alleys with murals and preserve the area’s historic buildings.
“It’s a fun time to be organizing and to be working with residents and small business owners to make sure that an area of town that has needed some attention for a number of generations gets the attention that it deserves,” Carver said.
He hopes the new business office will be a catalyst for all of the nonprofit’s efforts, as well as a resource for the community.
“It’s meant to be a working hub for business owners and community members to walk in, meet with us, co-create projects and turn ideas into action,” Carver said.
Carver envisions the new business office playing a significant role in shaping the Expo New Mexico redevelopment project.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham first announced plans to put a mixed-use development and affordable housing at the site in December. In March, the Legislature passed a bill to raise an estimated $12 million to cover initial costs, and in June, the state announced an $850,000 contract with Stantec Consulting Services Inc. to develop a master plan by February 2026.
Previous governors have tried and failed to redevelop the site, but Carver said funding is the difference this time around.
“Something is going to happen with the state fairgrounds,” Carver said. “Our role is to make sure that the community is involved in the plans and their visions are reflected in the final master plan.”
The community has already expressed enthusiasm for the new office, Carver said, adding many local business owners and past San Pedro organizers showed up to the Thursday opening to celebrate it and the role they hope it will play in contributing to the overall revitalization of the area.
“It’s a culmination of 15 years of organizing,” Carver said of the new office. “But it’s also a springboard for deeper work.”
