Josh Heebner with Bandelier Technologies looks up at a drone approaching him Monday at the firm’s new office space in the New Mexico Innovation Hub at the midtown campus.
High-tech companies have filled the 50,000-square-foot New Mexico Innovation Hub at Santa Fe’s midtown campus, prompting the founder to start looking ahead at his project’s next phases.
David Perez, who opened the Innovation Hub in January at Aspect Media Village on the former college campus on St. Michael’s Drive, announced earlier this month the addition of several new tenants.
“I’m pleased with how quickly this happened,” Perez said.
He had believed there was significant demand in Santa Fe for the kind of facility he envisioned; still, he was caught a little off guard by the speed with which the facility filled up.
Adriana Reyes-Newell, a senior research scientist with Bandelier Technologies, works on a quantum imaging setup Monday in the firm’s new office at the New Mexico Innovation Hub. ::
“I thought it would take about a year,” Perez said. “It happened in six months.”
The final group of tenants to sign on to the hub — Perez prefers to call it an “ecosystem” — includes Prometheon Development Group LLC, Liberty Fusion, Bandelier Technologies, Santa Fe Community College’s nonprofit Mosaica Inc. and Slazer AI. Those organizations join the previous residents, New Mexico Consortium, Woodruff Engineering, New Mexico Angels, the New Mexico Fusion Igniter and the New Collar Network Fab Lab.
‘Important milestone’
Perez estimates the hub’s enterprises will employ 40 people, bringing new life to the midtown campus, which largely was devoid of activity until the city’s redevelopment of the site gained momentum a couple of years ago.
The Innovation Hub is anchored by the 32,000-square-foot Benildus Hall but includes space in other buildings at Aspect Media Village — a mixed-use project on property that developer Phillip Gesue purchased from the city.
“I think the hub has had a great impact on the atmosphere in midtown,” Perez said. He described driving up to Benildus Hall in the morning and seeing a parking lot filled with cars.
Perez recalled how empty the building felt when he took it over last year. It didn’t have Wi-Fi, he said, noting he used to sit on a metal folding chair in the lobby, waiting to lead tours for prospective tenants.
“It had no energy,” Perez said. “We’ve come a long way.”
Gesue did not respond to The New Mexican‘s request for comment on the hub’s impact on the neighborhood.
Mayor Michael Garcia said in a statement the hub’s success is an encouraging sign.
“To see the Hub fully leased and operating at capacity less than a year after opening demonstrates that there is strong demand for the kind of innovation, entrepreneurship and economic opportunity we are working to cultivate here in Santa Fe,” he said.
