Stephanie Guzman, Reporter for Albuquerque Business First:

Eight months after selecting a development team to create East Downtown's Innovate ABQ, the University of New Mexico Board of Regents have announced the first phase of the project — and it's a big one.

On tap is a 159,000-square-foot mixed-use building that centers around Innovate ABQ's live-work-play concept. The Innovate ABQ site is to be a complex for entrepreneurs — billed as a future hub for research and innovation.

The development team — Signet Development, Goodman Realty Group andDekker/Perich/Sabatini — are set to construct a six story building with offices, education and retail spaces on the ground floor, and 155 apartments above. The $35 million building will be constructed just north of the old First Baptist Church, which is on the northwest corner of Central Avenue and Broadway Boulevard.

Jason Perry, senior vice president of Signet Enterprises, said in order to construct the new building, the development team will raze the 14,000-square-foot west wing of the church, which is located in the interior area of the property.

Perry said it was important for the team to construct something new first, rather than redevelop the existing buildings on site. He said the new building will set the entire site's tone, and the church's main sanctuary, as well as the attached five-story tower on the site, will be addressed in later phases.

The residential units will each be two bedrooms with two baths, and geared toward upperclassman, graduate-level students and UNM students who are enrolled in theInnovation Academy. The building's ground floor tenants include STC.UNM, space for the Innovation Academy, a Nusenda Credit Union branch, a cafe and a small fitness center.

The project will increase EDo's and neighboring Downtown's residential density, and will surely bring ancillary businesses to the area.

"We want this to create a catalyst to draw businesses and individuals, and also to create the 24-hour environment on the site," Perry said. "We're trying to create that vibrancy of a mixed-use project and we think this will be the catalyst that will attract businesses here." Click here to read more.