By Ron Davis – Reporter, Albuquerque Business First
Mar 30, 2020, 4:35pm EDT
Austin- based Intera Inc. is expanding in Uptown.
Intera, a geosciences and engineering consulting firm, is set to occupy about 16,000 square feet and the entire seventh floor at Uptown Tower at 2440 Louisiana Blvd. NE after outgrowing its space at 6000 Uptown Blvd. NE. The firm has about 35 employees in Albuquerque and also has offices in Santa Fe and Carlsbad. It has operated in Albuquerque for 30 years and in Uptown for 10. In addition to Texas and New Mexico, the firm has offices in Colorado, Indiana, Florida, Hawaii, Washington, California, Switzerland and France.
The company works on the development, management, restoration and protection of natural resources, according to its website.
While the company declined to give an exact hiring figure, it does plan on growing throughout its time at its new space, said Eric Markland, Intera’s chief financial officer and chief administrative officer.
“It’s probably just a little more than what we need right now, but when I’m getting ready to sign a 10-year lease, I always have to plan for some growth,” Markland said. “For us, it was an opportunity to have all of our folks on one floor … It was just serendipitous that a really nice opportunity came along that could not only accommodate all of our people in one place, but also give us room to grow.”
Stacey Nenninger of Argus Investment Realty represented the tenant and Jordan Shipley of Allen Sigmon Real Estate Group represented the landlord. Albuquerque-based Kennington Design Build and Peter Butterfield Architecture were the project’s respective general contractor and architect. Bank of Albuquerque was the lender on the project.
As of Monday, Markland said the company had planned to move into the new space in the fourth quarter. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic affecting business operations across the country and in New Mexico, Markland said Intera will monitor any effects it could have on the company’s expansion into Uptown Tower.
The firm’s new office space will include finishes similar to its Austin office.
Brad Allen, principal at Allen Sigmon, which bought Uptown Tower in early 2019, said the group bought the building with about 45% occupancy. As of March 11, Allen said it’s at 84% after inking Intera to a lease. Allen said the group is working with a few other prospective tenants that could take the building to near capacity soon.
Intera and Allen Sigmon worked on the deal for almost a year, Markland and Allen said.
“It will be a showcase for our building,” Allen said. “I look forward to taking potential tenants through there.”
The deal comes months after another engineering firm, Verus Research, expanded its Uptown presence from 12,700 square feet to 27,000 square feet at 6100 Uptown Blvd. NE.
Allen Sigmon ranked No. 8 on Business First’s List of Largest New Mexico Commercial Real Estate Firms with $33.93 million in commercial transaction volume in 2019.
Originally reported on ABQ Biz First: https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2020/03/30/austin-engineering-firm-to-expandin-uptown.html
Allen Sigmon Real Estate Group is a full-service commercial real estate company based in Albuquerque with an expertise in acquisitions, brokerage, development, and property management. As a local company, we pride ourselves in our knowledge of the New Mexico commercial market and the relationships we are able to foster compared to larger national firms. Our office works with every kind of commercial property; including office, industrial, retail, land, and multifamily. Our understanding of client needs and concerns not only comes from our experience as an office but also as owners and investors of commercial property ourselves. We have an excellent team in place that is eager to work on your behalf; our results speak for themselves.
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