Albuquerque Journal

Intel, Hospitals, APS Bustling With Construction Projects
By Richard Metcalf, Journal Staff Writer

When it comes to construction projects around the metro, APS isn't the only player or even the biggest player.
       
Intel Corp. is in the midst of a $1.5 billion upgrade of its existing Fab 11X in Rio Rancho to the company's most advanced manufacturing technology. The scale of the upgrade is staggering.
       
Currently, 1,000 tradesmen and 200-300 construction managers are working on the project, which began in June 2007 and will continue through January, Intel spokeswoman Liz Shipley said. Most of the workers are local and about one-third of them have worked on previous projects at the plant.
       
"In the past 12 years, Intel has invested more than $13 billion in capital for this site," she said.
       
The latest upgrade is primarily to the 45-nanometer process to manufacture smaller, more powerful and energy-efficient chips. The project requires an upgrade of Fab 11X's roughly 280,000-square-foot clean room to the highest ultra-pure standard.
       
"This project has not been an easy task," Shipley said. "While in the midst of this major 45-nanometer conversion, we continue high-volume manufacturing on (older) 90-nanometer (technology). This is when the experience and quality of our local work force truly makes a difference."
       
On top of the Intel Fab 11X upgrade, Rio Rancho is seeing a flurry of projects of a larger scale.
       
Presbyterian Healthcare Services held its official groundbreaking earlier this month on a $200 million project that will include a 340,000-square-foot full-service hospital and a 112,000-square-foot medical office building.
       
Other projects looming in the not-too-distant future include construction of a 218,000-square-foot building to house a call center for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett-Packard and yet another hospital to be developed by Plano, Texas-based Legacy Hospital Partners and the University of New Mexico Medical Group.
       
Rio Rancho Public Schools, the state's third largest school district, is also going through a nearly $147 million building boom.
       
The biggest project is the 416,000-square-foot V. Sue Cleveland High School, which will have the capacity for 2,350 students. The $112 million project, being built by Jaynes Corp., is scheduled to open in the fall of 2009.
       
Rio Rancho is currently completing two new elementary schools — Cielo Azul and Sandia Vista — each 85,500 square feet and costing $14.9 million. Both schools will open to students this month.
       
In addition to the new construction, Rio Rancho has just over $5 million in renovations and additions under way at its schools.
       
The district, which has about 16,000 students, expects enrollment to flatten with the home building slump after seeing more than 5 percent growth last school year and 8.5 percent growth in 2005-06 and 2006-07, said district spokeswoman Kim Vesely.