New Mexico in general and Albuquerque in particular have enteredthe business and real estate consciousness as a strong location forgrowth and development. Sandia National Laboratories, under itsMicrosystems and Engineering Sciences Application project, isdeveloping a 400,000-sf spread in three buildings, valued atapproximately $500 million. Intel Corp. is undergoing a$750-million upgrade of its campus. And just south of the city, the12,900-acre Mesa delSol, under the development of the Forest City Covington NM LLC,is taking shape as one of the largest master-planned developmentsin the US. Vacant land on the west side is being snapped up forfuture office and mixed-use development. And, this is just the tipof the iceberg.

"There's a lot of stuff going on here," laughs Gary Tonjes,president of the Albuquerque Economic Development Inc. He and SulKassicieh, associate dean for the Anderson School of Management atUniversity of New Mexico say that growth in Albuquerque is notnecessarily news because it's been going on for awhile, thanks tothe strong government-backed companies in town, but it'saccelerated in the past two years.

Kassicieh, who also serves as the university's endowed chair ofeconomic development, says the combination of venture capitalflowing into the area in the past decade--combined with smartdecisions by the state government and organizations supportingtechnology development--have encouraged businesses and people tomove to the area. "It also doesn't hurt to be listed Number One forbusiness and careers on Forbes' Magazine poll," he adds.