The Carlisle Condominiums
Albuquerque
Best Project

Owner/Developer: The Carlisle Condominiums LLC
General Contractor: HB Construction
Lead Design Firm: James C. Lewis Architects
Structural Engineer: Golden Lane & Associates
Civil Engineer: Mark Goodwin & Associates
MEP: JCE International

This $16.7-million project is a pedestrian-oriented and art deco-inspired addition to Albuquerque’s Nob Hill neighborhood. 

The four-story, 60,000-sq-ft building has 34 residential units, a parking garage with storage units, a center courtyard and retail shops.

Final completion was satisfying for the owner and surrounding community since the current building is a full rebuild after the first attempt at it fell victim to a serial arsonist during the punch list phase in November 2016.

The new Carlisle is almost an exact duplicate of the first structure, but with the benefit of process experience gained during the first build. The team was able to be much more efficient, says owner Kenny Hinkes.

“We streamlined the scopes of work and successfully eliminated the need for any change orders,” Hinkes says, adding that some subcontractors were culled to increase efficiency.

The fire started on the second floor before burning up to the third level, causing multiple floors to collapse. All steel above the first floor was unusable.

Hinke says the quick 17-month turnaround after the fire can be partially attributed to the immediate capture of the arsonist, which meant the building was no longer a crime scene and the rebuild could commence.

“The city of Albuquerque was quite cooperative,” Hinkes says. “They wanted to give fresh green tags and then pick up from there going forward. So we didn’t waste any time going through the permitting process.”

Contractor HB Construction worked out of a commercial building next to The Carlisle site that had received water damage as firefighters battled the blaze. The contractor’s agreement with the neighboring owners allowed the construction team to use the site for staging, and HB Construction agreed, in return, to renovate the water-damaged building at no cost to the owners.

The building’s beams were set in 10 days. Jim Peterson, field operations manager of HB Construction, says the city of Albuquerque allowed a shutdown of Central Avenue for nearly two days to facilitate beam delivery. Hinkes says the team hired nearly every open crane and truck in the area to remove debris and set the beams.