Tough times for Los Alamos housing
Communities all over New Mexico are facing a tough real estate market, but perhaps none have it tougher than Los Alamos, a company town whose fortunes are tied closely to those of the federally funded Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The Los Alamos Monitor is reporting that "the largest property foreclosure in the history of Los Alamos is underway," and the owner of the 132-unit apartment complex is blaming job cuts and other cutbacks at LANL, which employees about 10,000 people.
The lab cut hundreds of contractor positions in 2006, shortly after a new corporate manager -- Los Alamos National Security, LLC -- took over operations. Last year, the lab -- which faced rising operational costs but stagnant funding -- announced it would eliminate between 500 and 750 jobs through voluntary buyouts.
The owner of Los Alamos Apartments , Kent Waterman, told the Monitor that occupancy at the property has dropped to 40 percent:
“The Los Alamos Apartments property was operating profitably until transitions forced on the Los Alamos National Laboratory had as expected impacts on the apartments,” Waterman said during the interview. “The property is currently running at about a 40 percent occupancy rate. We lost about 20 percent of our units rented to contractors a year ago last fall when the laboratory laid off several contractors. Then last year the laboratory discontinued their summer housing program, which affected another 59 units. Since last fall Los Alamos Apartments lowered rates by 15-20 percent, depending on lease term, but the market does not appear to have recovered.”
A 132-unit apartment complex has a foreclosure value of $3 million, according to the Monitor.
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