Extra! Extra! Brandon Thienes proclaims 2007 ends and Business is Good!
Posted by Brandon Thienes at 12/30/2007 11:27 AM and is filed under uncategorized 
A couple of weeks ago, an investor of mine asked why the real estate numbers in New Mexico were so weighted compared to other Western States, and the country as a whole. I gave a few brief examples, but since that time, I've done a bit of homework in order to better answer his question.
I thought I would post my final entry by recapping a few reasons why this little recognized planet we call New Mexico is a forerunner in positive economic and real estate statistics. Here's a few reasons why NM will continue to be a good investment for years to come, and this is just things that have taken place this year in a state that barely hosts 2 million residents:
* Eclipse Aviation began delivery of its unique small-engine personal jet planes - it is anticipated to deliver over 300 planes a year when at full capacity and already has a backorder of hundreds of planes by consumers throughout the world. Employment = 1500 new, high-paying jobs.
* Sperry Van Ness, a national commercial real estate firm listed Albuquerque in the top 10 U.S. retail investment markets to watch. The study examined 60 American metro areas.
* National Geographic Magazine named Albuquerque on of America's top "waterfront" towns due to its affiliation with the Rio Grande River.
* Cincinnati-based Convergys moved into Albuquerque creating 500 new jobs.
* Verizon wireless added 300 jobs in 2007 to total 1400 employees in their customer Albuquerque-based customer service center.
* Allstate insurance is opening a customer claims service center in Las Cruces New Mexico, adding 250 new jobs.
* Volt Information Services opened an Apple & Mac customer service call center in Las Cruces, New Mexico, adding 300 jobs.
* Eberline LLC, Santa Fe, NM was awarded a Navy contract for $28.4MM in a new technology contract that is creating many high-tech jobs.
* Albuquerque based Lumidgm entered contracts with the U.S. military to provide new, less expensive, proprietary biometric fingerprint scanners for all types of security applications worldwide.
* Albuquerque's University Medical Hospital added a $244mm, 500,000sf. children's hospital and emergency department. They also broke ground for a new 190,000sf. cancer center to be built for approx. $100MM.
* Grants NM, has been approved to begin mining uranium, opening hundreds of jobs for blue and white collar workers.
* Eunice NM has been approved to open a uranium processing facility that will eventually employ over 1200 people.
* MovieMaker magazine, a major trade publication in the film industry cited Albuquerque as a "hot spot" in the United States for movie production. At any given time there are 3-10 films being shot in full or in part within the New Mexico landscape. Such films as the fourth "Indian Jones and the City of Gods", "Wild Hogs" and many others.
* In response to New Mexico's rising popularity in the movie industry, 2007 saw the breaking ground and completion of the $74MM Albuquerque Studios on 28 acres and housing eight sound stages. Several movies and television series have been or are being shot there already.
* Seeing New Mexico's potential as a movie industry mecca, Sony announced it is bringing part of its Sony Pictures Imageworks from California to Albuquerque in early 2008, creating several hundred new jobs.
* Understanding the need to get in early, an unnamed movie investment company from California just purchased many acres of land just outside of Albuquerque that has housed a bankrupt shopping outlet. They intend to infuse the property with an initial $30MM in order to convert it into another production studio. It is intended to market itself to feature films, music videos, TV sitcoms and commercials.
* Sandia National Laboratories opened its $516MM Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications facility which designs and manufactures electronic circuits for nuclear weapons. 650 jobs have been added.
* Kirtland Airforce Base has announced plans for a $390MM mixed-use development on 92 acres which will house retail, office, hotel and assisted living facilities.
* California-based Tesla Motors announced plans in 2007 to build a factory in Albuquerque for an all-electric sedan which will be marketed world-wide.
* Due to New Mexico's high per-capita of PhD's, we are constantly seeing new technologies that are both indigenous and extra-local, who want to base themselves in the mix of our scientific community. One such example is the new fuel plant, American Renewable Fuels, an Australian company who has developed a way to convert animal fat into gasoline. The new plant is being built in Clovis, New Mexico, and intends to produce approximately 75MM gallons of fuel in 2008 alone.
* 2007 brought the announcement and breaking ground of New Mexico's first commercial-size biomass power plant. Public Service Company of New Mexico, a power provider to New Mexico, Texas and Mexico has already entered contract to purchase all power conducted through the new $80MM facility.
* Although not exactly high-tech, New Mexico continues to create jobs through low tech as well. Tempur-Pedic broke ground on its new 18-acre Albuquerque-based plant which is projected to employ 300 people and produce 60,000 mattresses a month.
* Fighting hard to become the Nation's most recognized "green" state, New Mexico continues to court companies that have the vision and technology to promote green living. As such Advent Solar is building an 87,000 sf. design and manufacturing facility that will produce and ship thousands of solar cells per month. Again adding hundreds of jobs to the community.
* Few people know it, but Rio Rancho, a suburb of Albuquerque, houses one of Intel's largest engineering and manufacturing facilities in the world. 2007 brought the announcement that their 1,000,000 sf. facility and operations will be getting a $1.5 Billion dollar upgrade as it moves into the next generation of computer chip design and fabrication.
* Mel Gibson is known for his illustrious movie career. However, he and some other investors have chosen New Mexico to build a $30MM tire recycling plant that is based on state-of-the-art, green, technology. The company is called Green Rubber Global and will again bring white and blue jobs to the state.
* Lala, a Mexican Dairy Products producer announced the opening of a cheese factory outside of Lovington, NM. The factory will employ approximately 75 people and ship goods internationally.
* At final count, New Mexico holds one of the lowest ratios of foreclosures of any state in the country. Only 1/1365 homes are in some point of the foreclosure process within the state as a whole. This is primarily due to the continuing job growth and income stability of the state.
I hope this helps to explain why New Mexico is a smart bet, and will continue to be for years to come.
Until Next time, remember to visit my site at www.TheEquityExperts.com
Happy New Year!
Brandon Thienes, Private Equity/Exotic Lending Specialist
I thought I would post my final entry by recapping a few reasons why this little recognized planet we call New Mexico is a forerunner in positive economic and real estate statistics. Here's a few reasons why NM will continue to be a good investment for years to come, and this is just things that have taken place this year in a state that barely hosts 2 million residents:
* Eclipse Aviation began delivery of its unique small-engine personal jet planes - it is anticipated to deliver over 300 planes a year when at full capacity and already has a backorder of hundreds of planes by consumers throughout the world. Employment = 1500 new, high-paying jobs.
* Sperry Van Ness, a national commercial real estate firm listed Albuquerque in the top 10 U.S. retail investment markets to watch. The study examined 60 American metro areas.
* National Geographic Magazine named Albuquerque on of America's top "waterfront" towns due to its affiliation with the Rio Grande River.
* Cincinnati-based Convergys moved into Albuquerque creating 500 new jobs.
* Verizon wireless added 300 jobs in 2007 to total 1400 employees in their customer Albuquerque-based customer service center.
* Allstate insurance is opening a customer claims service center in Las Cruces New Mexico, adding 250 new jobs.
* Volt Information Services opened an Apple & Mac customer service call center in Las Cruces, New Mexico, adding 300 jobs.
* Eberline LLC, Santa Fe, NM was awarded a Navy contract for $28.4MM in a new technology contract that is creating many high-tech jobs.
* Albuquerque based Lumidgm entered contracts with the U.S. military to provide new, less expensive, proprietary biometric fingerprint scanners for all types of security applications worldwide.
* Albuquerque's University Medical Hospital added a $244mm, 500,000sf. children's hospital and emergency department. They also broke ground for a new 190,000sf. cancer center to be built for approx. $100MM.
* Grants NM, has been approved to begin mining uranium, opening hundreds of jobs for blue and white collar workers.
* Eunice NM has been approved to open a uranium processing facility that will eventually employ over 1200 people.
* MovieMaker magazine, a major trade publication in the film industry cited Albuquerque as a "hot spot" in the United States for movie production. At any given time there are 3-10 films being shot in full or in part within the New Mexico landscape. Such films as the fourth "Indian Jones and the City of Gods", "Wild Hogs" and many others.
* In response to New Mexico's rising popularity in the movie industry, 2007 saw the breaking ground and completion of the $74MM Albuquerque Studios on 28 acres and housing eight sound stages. Several movies and television series have been or are being shot there already.
* Seeing New Mexico's potential as a movie industry mecca, Sony announced it is bringing part of its Sony Pictures Imageworks from California to Albuquerque in early 2008, creating several hundred new jobs.
* Understanding the need to get in early, an unnamed movie investment company from California just purchased many acres of land just outside of Albuquerque that has housed a bankrupt shopping outlet. They intend to infuse the property with an initial $30MM in order to convert it into another production studio. It is intended to market itself to feature films, music videos, TV sitcoms and commercials.
* Sandia National Laboratories opened its $516MM Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Applications facility which designs and manufactures electronic circuits for nuclear weapons. 650 jobs have been added.
* Kirtland Airforce Base has announced plans for a $390MM mixed-use development on 92 acres which will house retail, office, hotel and assisted living facilities.
* California-based Tesla Motors announced plans in 2007 to build a factory in Albuquerque for an all-electric sedan which will be marketed world-wide.
* Due to New Mexico's high per-capita of PhD's, we are constantly seeing new technologies that are both indigenous and extra-local, who want to base themselves in the mix of our scientific community. One such example is the new fuel plant, American Renewable Fuels, an Australian company who has developed a way to convert animal fat into gasoline. The new plant is being built in Clovis, New Mexico, and intends to produce approximately 75MM gallons of fuel in 2008 alone.
* 2007 brought the announcement and breaking ground of New Mexico's first commercial-size biomass power plant. Public Service Company of New Mexico, a power provider to New Mexico, Texas and Mexico has already entered contract to purchase all power conducted through the new $80MM facility.
* Although not exactly high-tech, New Mexico continues to create jobs through low tech as well. Tempur-Pedic broke ground on its new 18-acre Albuquerque-based plant which is projected to employ 300 people and produce 60,000 mattresses a month.
* Fighting hard to become the Nation's most recognized "green" state, New Mexico continues to court companies that have the vision and technology to promote green living. As such Advent Solar is building an 87,000 sf. design and manufacturing facility that will produce and ship thousands of solar cells per month. Again adding hundreds of jobs to the community.
* Few people know it, but Rio Rancho, a suburb of Albuquerque, houses one of Intel's largest engineering and manufacturing facilities in the world. 2007 brought the announcement that their 1,000,000 sf. facility and operations will be getting a $1.5 Billion dollar upgrade as it moves into the next generation of computer chip design and fabrication.
* Mel Gibson is known for his illustrious movie career. However, he and some other investors have chosen New Mexico to build a $30MM tire recycling plant that is based on state-of-the-art, green, technology. The company is called Green Rubber Global and will again bring white and blue jobs to the state.
* Lala, a Mexican Dairy Products producer announced the opening of a cheese factory outside of Lovington, NM. The factory will employ approximately 75 people and ship goods internationally.
* At final count, New Mexico holds one of the lowest ratios of foreclosures of any state in the country. Only 1/1365 homes are in some point of the foreclosure process within the state as a whole. This is primarily due to the continuing job growth and income stability of the state.
I hope this helps to explain why New Mexico is a smart bet, and will continue to be for years to come.
Until Next time, remember to visit my site at www.TheEquityExperts.com
Happy New Year!
Brandon Thienes, Private Equity/Exotic Lending Specialist
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