‘Build to Rent’ aims to make housing more affordable here

RIO RANCHO — You say you can’t afford a new home, costing $300,000 or more these days, but you’re not excited about living in an apartment or just plain tired of living in one?

A new development in affordable housing in Rio Rancho may be for you.

A 10.5-acre plot off Westside Boulevard, a bit north of Presbyterian Rust Medical Center in Rio Rancho, had ground broken in March for what will be a 126-unit gated community — with a “new” build-to-rent concept making it a reality.

Build to rent helps satisfy an unmet demand for single-family living by increasing the supply of such homes and leads to a lower resident turnover than traditional multi-family homes.

“The Elanor” will have plenty of amenities for renters of the homes — planned as 30 one-bedroom, 63 two-bedroom and 30 three-bedroom homes — such as garages, a 4,000-square-foot clubhouse, outdoor pool, fitness facility and covered patios.

JLM Living is the owner of “The Elanor;” Innovate Construction and Westway Homes are the builders. Westway’s Mike Fietz said the plan is to build about 15 homes monthly and complete the buildout in late 2025.

Fietz and Dave Doyle of Innovate gave a presentation of that project to the NAIOP Rio Rancho Roundtable meeting Thursday morning at RMC.

Basically, Doyle said, these six styles of homes are for those who “don’t want an apartment and can’t afford a $340,000 home.”

Those home prices won’t be going down, either, as the two men told how the “price of dirt” is increasing dramatically and leading to higher prices for new homes.

The renters will have privacy, not sharing walls as they would in apartment, and “The Elanor” and similar developments planned for Los Lunas, Albuquerque and possibly Santa Fe are being situated near schools, churches, shopping, parks — “not remote,” Doyle added.

“People don’t want apartments next to their subdivisions,” Doyle said, and this subdivision – basically a horizontal apartment complex – alleviates that and is “getting a lot of momentum.”

“This is a great concept,” noted broker Mike Skolnick of Excalibur Realty & Investments, a regular attendee of monthly Rio Rancho Roundtables.

The May 2 Rio Rancho Roundtable also heard a short presentation from GENM (Generation Elevate New Mexico), a new entity with close to 100 members that aims to help “shape the future of New Mexico.”

“Everybody wants to see the right projects in New Mexico,” said J.T. Mitchell of GENM.

If specific criteria are met, GENM will do its best to support and advocate for that type of project. Its mission statement is to “Activate everyday voices to positively shape New Mexico by championing smart, sustainable and resilient growth through development projects and governmental policies.”

GENM has supported two Metro projects so far, including a new stadium for New Mexico United at Balloon Fiesta Park and a physical rehabilitation hospital in Martineztown.

The next Rio Rancho Roundtable is slated for 7:30 a.m. June 6, with the topic Rio Rancho Public Schools and its new Rio TECH campus, which is where the meeting will take place.