The Changing Face of Los Alamos
Updated July, 2010
Proposed Trinity Sites Area
Work is progressing on clearing the area that used to house the Los Alamos School District administrative offices and maintenance shops to make way for the new Trinity Sites project. This area is across Trinity Drive south from the MeriMac shopping center. The photo at the left shows most of the maintenance buildings alread cleared. The photo on the right shows the gutted remains of the Los Alamos County Administrative Annex.
Los Alamos County is rapidly moving ahead with plans to develop the old school district shops site and county administrative annex into a mixed use area. The official name of the project is the Trinity Site Revitalization Project. An RFP was issued on May 27 to eight developers and responses are due to the County by July 28th. The County is expected to choose a developer in the fall with a contract expected in early 2011. The emphasis in the RFP is on an anchor store, general merchandise, creating a sense of place and establishing the Canyon Rim Trail along the Los Alamos Canyon's southern edge. Stay tuned for the latest information as it becomes available.
New Los Alamos County Justice Center
The new Los Alamos County Justice Center is now complete. It is located on the site of the old jail but this building is just east of where the jail was. The new jail is to the west of the old jail and the old jail has been remodeled into offices, storage space, etc. In addition to being an attractive and modern addition to the Los Alamos landscape the county now has all the judiciary, police and jail facilities under one roof. This view is looking south from the site of the old county building.
Diamond Drive/School Remodel Projects
Between redoing Diamond Drive in front of the high school and starting the major remodel of the high school itself, the piles of dirt are getting bigger and the trenches are getting deeper. This photograph shows the current activity in front of the high school library which is barely discernable in the background. The second photograph in this section shows the activity in the parking lot north of the auditorium. In addition to all the work on Diamond Drive including new sidewalks, curb and gutter, new pavement and new utilities the school district is pouring concrete pads and running utilities for portable classrooms to use during the school remodel.
Phase 3 of the Diamond Drive project started in April and is expected to take about 2 years. Phase 3 runs from North Road to the Omega bridge. The extensive school remodel project started in May and is expected to also take about 2 years. Currently (middle of July) both high school parking lots and the old band practice field are full of dirt, trenches, big pipes, large construction equipment and a lot of people milling about. Portable classrooms will be delivered in the next month and will be placed on what used to be the lawn in front of the high school library. School starts in approximately 5 weeks. The race is on! August 19, the day school starts, should be one of the more interesting days in recent Los Alamos history.
Would you like to see what the high school remodel will look like when it is done? It will be a very modern three story building. Go to the Los Alamos School District web site at www.laschools.net for a site plan and building floor plans. Would you like to track the progress of the Diamond Drive project? Go to the Los Alamos County web site at www.losalamosnm.us for project updates.
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