A dirt lot near Unser and Westside in Rio Rancho will be transformed into a large food and drink hall.
“It’s just going to be a really fun building,” developer Roy Solomon told KRQE. “As you can see from the location, our views from the patios are going to be phenomenal.”
Solomon is the developer behind Albuquerque’s Tin Can Alley and Green Jeans Farmery. He says this will be similar to those venues but with its twist. It will be called Margarita Hill, and complete with everything anyone might crave, including the New Mexican staple, Sadie’s.
“They’ll be a little more diversity with the food,” Solomon said. “We’re going to have a potential for a Thai tenant. We have Greek that’s talking about coming in, Greek food. We already have the Vietnamese, and they’ll be pizza, pasta, salad, ice cream, juice.”
Margarita Hill has been a labor of love with several challenges. “Building with shipping containers is not easy,” Solomon said. “Some people may remember when I built Green Jeans, I said never again.”
He couldn’t resist the location and plans to break ground early next year and open by the summer of 2023. “I looked at properties here for over the last five or six years, and this one just started to feel right,” he said. “The location feels right. The community is excited about it.”
Rio Rancho’s Mayor, Greggory Hull, is excited about what the development will bring to the community. “If we wanted to do something, go out, enjoy an evening out, typically that would involve going into Albuquerque,” Hull said. “But now we’re really starting to see investors turn their eye towards Rio Rancho.”