Well

by: Alexa Skonieski

Posted: Oct 4, 2022 / 10:00 PM MDT

Updated: Oct 6, 2022 / 07:57 AM MDT

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) – A dirt lot near Unser and Westside in Rio Rancho won't be vacant for much longer. The space will be transformed into a large food and drink hall.

"It's just going to be a really fun building. As you can see from the location, our views from the patios are going to be phenomenal," developer Roy Solomon said.

Solomon, the mastermind behind Albuquerque's Tin Can Alley and Green Jeans Farmery, says this will be similar to those developments but with its own twist. They’re calling it Margarita Hill, and it will be filled with everything you could possibly crave, including the New Mexican staple, Sadie's.

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"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."

The Margarita Hill project has been years in the making, and Solomon says it has come with its challenges. "Building with shipping containers is not easy. Some people may remember when I built Green Jeans, I said never again," he chuckled.

But Solomon is yet again starting from the ground up. "I looked at properties here for over the last five or six years, and this one just started to feel right. The location feels right. The community is excited about it."

Rio Rancho's Mayor, Greggory Hull, says this is the type of establishment they have been trying to attract for many, many years. "If we wanted to do something, go out, enjoy an evening out, typically that would involve going into Albuquerque. But now we’re really starting to see investors turn their eye towards Rio Rancho," Hull said.

Solomon plans to break ground early next year and open by the end of summer 2023.

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