Sale breathes life into downtown hulk

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The downtown Albuquerque Anasazi building has sold to an Arizona real estate company that's expected to finish the troubled project, according to the mayor’s office.

Construction on the high rise stopped dead nearly five years ago leaving the nine-story building a monument to the difficult economy and bank fraud .

The building at Central Avenue and Sixth Street SW was supposed to have luxury condos, shops and restaurants, but it became mired down in legal issues.

On Friday Mayor Richard J. Berry said the Anasazi building is about to come back to life.

“This is several years in the making, and it’s great news,” Berry told KRQE News 13.

Berry confirmed Arizona-based PEM Real Estate Group has purchased the Anasazi.  He said he’s confident PEM will follow through with the project.

“They appear to be, just during my brief conversations, to be very competent,” Berry said. “They’re well-funded.

"My understanding is they know what they’re doing, and that was the reason we wanted to get it out of (government ownerhsip) and into the private sector.”

The city says construction to finish the building could start in the next 90 days.

Calls to PEM Real Estate Group were not immediately returned.

The mayor said PEM had a project management team in Albuquerque this week to evaluate the Anasazi, and that the building’s façade should be finished by the end of the summer.