The University of New Mexico now has the right to improve the roads, sidewalks, and sewers on its property, after the Albuquerque City Council approved it as a "tax increment development district" in its south campus area.

UNM, through its non-profit Lobo Development Corporation, asked the council to approve the south campus as its own TIDD, according to KRQE, which would help finance public infrastructure improvements. TIDDs seek to offer developers incentives in areas that are difficult to develop or underdeveloped.

“This is really about job creation and using our assets, our land assets, to improve the general economy in the region,” Kelly Ward, director of Business Development at Lobo Development Corporation, said on KRQE.

The university wants to use part of the land for a public retail area and a private research development facility.

“In the south campus, the particular difficulty there is, is really the historic use of the land and the challenge that we have with providing infrastructure at a reasonable cost,” Ward said on KRQE. “We have a lot of front-end work to do and then to be able to extend services such as sewer and water and gas, electric, roads, those kinds of public infrastructure.”

Now that the city has approved the development, 75% of gross receipt taxes and property taxes from the area will go back into developing it. The development is predicted to create more than 4,000 permanent jobs and $620 million in long-term investments over the next 20 years.