Albuquerque Plaza, also known as WaFd Bank Building, is a high-rise or

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...

on the south side of Civic Plaza 201 Third Street NW, in

Downtown Albuquerque Downtown Albuquerque is the central business district of Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. It is where a significant number of the city's highrise buildings are located, and is the center of government and business for the Greater Albuq ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

. It is the taller of a two tower complex that contains class-A office space connected at ground level by a two-story promenade containing retail space connecting to the shorter

Hyatt Regency Albuquerque Hyatt Regency Albuquerque is a 20-story high-rise hotel located at 330 Tijeras Avenue NW in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico. The building is tall, making it Albuquerque's second tallest building and tallest hotel. It was built in 1990 as part o ...

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

tower. At 22 stories, it is the tallest building in New Mexico. The hotel tower, with 20 stories, is the state's second tallest building at . Their similar height, color, and pyramidal roofs make them the focal point of the Albuquerque skyline. Albuquerque Plaza complex was designed by

Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum HOK, formerly Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum and legally HOK Group, Inc., is an American design, architecture, engineering, and urban planning firm, founded in 1955. As of 2018, HOK is the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering f ...

and built in 1990.

History

The Albuquerque Plaza development was built by BetaWest Properties, a commercial real estate subsidiary of

US West US West, Inc. (stylized as US WEST) was one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs, also referred to as "Baby Bells"), created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement (''United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc.'' 552 ...

and sister company of the

Mountain Bell Qwest Corporation is a former Regional Bell Operating Company owned by Lumen Technologies. It was formerly named U S WEST Communications, Inc. from 1991 to 2000, and also formerly named Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company from 1911 t ...

telephone company. The company was planning a new office tower to replace the old Mountain Bell building, which was originally built in 1953 as a Fedway department store and was notable for having New Mexico's first

escalator An escalator is a moving staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a motor-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizo ...

. Concurrently, the city was planning a major expansion of the

Albuquerque Convention Center Albuquerque Convention Center is a multipurpose convention and performing arts center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is New Mexico's largest convention center. The convention center hosts the Albuquerque Comic-Con and a lowrider exhibition spons ...

and convinced BetaWest to add a luxury hotel to the proposed development. In order to secure the hotel deal, the city gave BetaWest $10 million in loans, a seven-year exemption on property taxes for the hotel, and a three-year catering concession for the convention center. Designed by

HOK Architects HOK, formerly Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum and legally HOK Group, Inc., is an American design, architecture, engineering, and urban planning firm, founded in 1955. As of 2018, HOK is the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering f ...

, the planned development consisted of a 22-story office tower and 20-story hotel tower connected by a shared base. Construction began in early 1988 with the demolition of the Mountain Bell building and was completed in the summer of 1990. The total cost of the project was $100 million. With the real estate market struggling in the early 1990s, US West began selling off many of its commercial properties. Both of the Albuquerque Plaza towers were sold to Crescent Real Estate Equities of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

in 1995 for $69 million, though US West kept its offices in the building. In 2005, the office tower was sold to a local investment group, now under the umbrella of Allegiance Realty of

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. Meanwhile, the Hyatt was sold to an out-of-state investor. In 2013, Allegiance was able to purchase the hotel tower as well, putting both towers back under the same ownership. In 2019, Jim Long, owner of Heritage Hotels and Resorts, purchased the building from Allegiance and as of early 2020, the building is now managed by his own commercial real estate company called Heritage Real Estate Company.

Architecture

Albuquerque Plaza is tall and has 22 stories, making it New Mexico's tallest building by both height and floor count. The tower, roughly square in plan with angular projections, is situated at the southeast corner of the block and contains of class-A office space. It rises 20 stories above a two-story base which is shared with the

Hyatt Regency Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...

hotel. The first floor contains a retail promenade, while the second floor houses banquet and conference rooms. The complex was designed by

and is an example of

postmodern architecture Postmodern architecture is a style or movement which emerged in the 1960s as a reaction against the austerity, formality, and lack of variety of modern architecture, particularly in the international style advocated by Philip Johnson and Henry- ...

. It is constructed from

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

with pink

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

trim, and both towers are capped with distinctive pyramidal roofs which contain mechanical equipment. At the building's main entrance is a bronze sculpture by

Glenna Goodacre Glenna Maxey Goodacre (August 28, 1939 – April 13, 2020) was an American sculptor, best known for having designed the obverse of the Sacagawea dollar that entered circulation in the US in 2000, and the Vietnam Women's Memorial in Washington, ...

called "Sidewalk Society" which depicts nine life-sized people engaged in various activities on the street corner. The sculpture was commissioned by the building's developer and unveiled in 1991. The racial politics of the piece have attracted some criticism, especially a scene apparently depicting a

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...

man with a

hard hat A hard hat is a type of helmet predominantly used in workplace environments such as industrial or construction sites to protect the head from injury due to falling objects, impact with other objects, debris, rain, and electric shock. Suspensio ...

being given instructions by a white supervisor, but the overall reception of the work was mostly positive.

Tenants and signage

When it opened, the building's main tenant was

, occupying floors 4–12. Several other floors were occupied by law firms. By 1995, other major tenants included

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

and

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gover ...

(GSA) offices. From 1998 to 2015, the building contained the headquarters of Bank of Albuquerque, a subsidiary of BOK Financial. Another large tenant was the

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...

, which left in 2007. In 2015, the building reportedly housed around 25 office tenants with about 800 employees, including several major local law firms, as well as the GSA offices. From 1991 to 1998, the tower had a Bank of America logo to go along with the bank branch on the first floor. In 1998, the branch was one of several included in a government-mandated sale to BOK Financial, establishing the subsidiary Bank of Albuquerque. The Bank of Albuquerque logo was replaced with

U.S. Eagle Federal Credit Union U.S. Eagle Federal Credit Union is a credit union founded in 1935 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They have branches in Albuquerque, Farmington, Santa Fe, and Bernalillo. As of 2020, U.S. Eagle had 79,785 members, 249 employees, and $1.18 billion i ...

signage in 2015. In 2021, WaFd Bank, f.k.a. Washington Federal Bank, announced that they will be opening up an office inside Albuquerque Plaza and bought the building signage, which was installed in May 2021 and gave the building its new identity.

Environmental impact

In addition to providing downtown Albuquerque with of commercial office space, the tallest building in New Mexico is also one of the state's most sustainable structures. Albuquerque Plaza, utilizes a hybrid

thermal energy storage Thermal energy storage (TES) is achieved with widely different technologies. Depending on the specific technology, it allows excess thermal energy to be stored and used hours, days, months later, at scales ranging from the individual process, ...

system from CALMAC. The system helps alleviate the building's dependence on the electric grid, cut carbon emissions and reduces the energy required to cool its occupants. For over 20 years, shifting the electric demand used to cool the building from on-peak to off-peak hours has saved the property over on electric utility bills. In 2002, the Bank of Albuquerque Tower was awarded BOMA’s “Office Building of the Year” award, which considers energy conservation as part of its judging criteria.

References

External links