Pages from Columbus Capital application to Los Alamos County for special use permit for Mari Mac Shopping Center. Courtesy LAC

BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com

It looks like big changes may be in store for the Mari Mac Shopping Center if plans submitted to the Los Alamos County Community Development Department 10 days ago materialize.  Greg Gonzales and Jeff Branch of Columbus Capital, which also owns the proposed Arbolada 85-home subdivision on North Mesa, have signed a contract with Kroeger, the owners of Mari Mac and are in a due diligence phase.

Columbus Capital has requested a special use permit for a self-service storage facility in the 58,000 sq. ft. former Smith’s supermarket building. The front part of the Smith’s building would be used for an office and retail space with the remainder of the building to be used for personal storage.

The request has been reviewed by the County’s IDRC and is being forwarded to the Planning & Zoning Commission to be considered at its Sept. 28 meeting. Notices to all nearby property owners will be sent out prior to the P&Z meeting.

Columbus Capital apparently submitted an initial incomplete special use permit application two months ago for a laboratory support facility but rescinded that application and resubmitted the application for a different use.

The site plan has been reviewed by the County Interdepartmental Review Committee, which did not find any issues, and a staff report is being prepared by Community Development Department Planning Manager Sobia Sayeda in advance of the Planning & Zoning Commission meeting. It looks like the Mari-Mac property will be developed in three phases, starting with the self-storage, followed by housing units and a parking garage and eventually demolishing the self-storage area and replacing it with additional housing and perhaps some retail.

Watch the Los Alamos Reporter for more information on the project as it becomes available.