At more than 19 square miles, the Mesa

At more than 19 square miles, the Mesa del Sol property in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is the largest undeveloped parcel of urban land under single ownership near a central business district in North America, according to the New Mexico Land Office, the site’s owner. It also has major potential for the New Urbanism. “This is an enormous opportunity to do a massive urban infill project,” says Tom Leatherwood of the land office. The site was purchased as public grazing land, but has been overtaken by development which is occurring at ever greater distances from the city center. Mesa del Sol, by contrast, is only five miles from the central business district, and located in close proximity to the airport, rail lines and interstate highways. The plan is to build 39 new urbanist neighborhoods, each with about 1,000 homes. The total development would house 100,000 people and provide sites for tens of thousands of jobs. The land office is going through initial planning with the city, and expects to seek proposals from developers by the end of 1998, Leatherwood says. The state is seeking a development partnership, and will hold on to key commercial parcels for investment purposes. The model is Seaside, where developer Robert Davis started with a $1 million, 80-acre piece of land on the Gulf Coast of Florida. After selling off most of the land, he retains about 10 acres of property in the town center worth $15 million, says Leatherwood