BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com

Rutherford Homes, LLC, the developers of the Arkansas Place Project on the former Black Hole property are hoping to begin vertical construction in the next six weeks. Although nearby residents have complained to the Los Alamos Reporter that there has been little activity on the property in the last several weeks, Chris Taylor, one of the Rutherford partners, told the Los Alamos Reporter Monday that a substantial amount of water and sewer infrastructure has been put in place and that work has been ongoing at the site.

Taylor said the actual Black Hole building has been gutted but that strategically it will not be demolished until later in the project.

“We would love to have the project move faster and are looking forward to moving on from the civil construction phase to vertical construction,” he said, adding that COVID-19 and shortages of materials have caused some delays with the project.

Asked about mitigation of dust from the enormous dirt piles on the property that are visible from Diamond Drive, Taylor said the company has a dust control plan in place. He said he was unaware that nearby homeowners were unhappy with the level of dust but would check into the situation immediately.

The Reporter reached out to County Planning Manager Bryce Ternet Monday for an update on the project and was referred to the construction company’s project manager.

“My understanding is that they are still undergoing the initial ground clearance/preparation phase. A building permit application for any vertical development on the site has not been submitted as of yet,” Ternet said.

The Arkansas Place site is roughly four and a half acres and according to Taylor will offer 44 single-family attached, four-story homes with three bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms and a two-car garage. Once the vertical building commences, Taylor expects the homes to be completed within six months.