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Willard was 78.
“Larry was committed to making New Mexico a better place to live as much as anybody I ever knew, and was one of the most positively impactful leaders New Mexico has had in recent memory,” said friend Steve Moise, the state’s investment officer. “He worked to improve our educational system and our business climate and wanted every child to have the opportunity to receive a quality education, get a good job and move up the economic ladder.”
As part of that goal, Willard endowed a number of libraries, including the Willard Reading Room at the University of New Mexico Zimmerman Library, and the Gerald and Betty Ford Library at the Bosque School.
“We want to determine how competitive we really are,” Casey said.
Casey, who worked most recently for the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, said Albuquerque saw a 24% decline in information-sector jobs in the previous five years, and has lagged behind cities like Phoenix in job growth in professional, scientific and technical services. Casey said Albuquerque improved its job total in that industry by 23% in the past two decades, while Phoenix increased by 52% over the same period.
“These are things we’re going to be thinking about in our strategy,” she said.
Still, Casey said Albuquerque has plenty of momentum with new arrivals to the city. She pointed to a 2019 study from United Van Lines, which noted that more people moved to the city than away from it that year. With more businesses and employees looking at remote-work opportunities, Casey said the city has a chance to capitalize on interest from crowded Western cities, including Denver, Los Angeles and San Francis
UNM Physics & Astronomy Interdisciplinary Science Facility
General Contractor: Bradbury Stamm Construction Inc.Architect: VHG Architects, EYP ArchitectureEngineers: Isaacson & Arfman, P.A.; Bridgers & Paxton; Chaves-Grieves Consulting Engineers
NAIOP’s signature award, designed to celebrate the projects that has had the most impact on the physical and economic development environment, was given this year to the University of New Mexico’s Physics & Astronomy Interdisciplinary Science Facility.
The new four-story, 139,000-square-foot research center near Central and Yale will house physics, astronomy and interdisciplinary sciences. The facility includes a number of types of laboratories, classrooms, an interior living room, offices and group spaces.
Amy Coburn, UNM’s university architect and director of planning, design and construction, oversaw the architectural and planning side of the project.
The University of New Mexico’s Physics & Astronomy Interdisciplinary Science Facility, or “PAIS.” (Courtesy of NAIOP)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. The star of the NAIOP New Mexico 2020 Awards of Excellence rests at the “front door” of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
It includes a $3 million, one-of-a-kind electron microscope for particle physics, optics labs, neutron lab and a living room.
Informally, it’s a 139,000-square-foot building that goes by the acronym of PAIS. In Spanish, said Christopher Carian, senior project manager with UNM Planning, Design & Construction and project manager for the building, “país” means “country.”
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“That is a great name, since the facility brings together so many University of New Mexico science departments and outside science entities,” he said.