Cottonwood Printing's Closure Paves Path for New Roadway Project
ALBUQUERQUE, NM—September 4, 2014—Blake Thies and co-owner Christina Thies have announced the closing of their commercial printing shop, Cottonwood Printing, based here.
Cottonwood, founded in 1979, employed 12 workers and had been located on 2117 Osuna Road NE since 1988, reported Albuquerque Business First.
The closure allows the city of Albuquerque to move forward with a $12 million road project, Melissa Lozoya, the city’s engineering division manager, told Albuquerque Business First. The owners were offered $40,000 for their property, she said, in order to proceed with the project that will create a new street from Osuna Road to Alameda Boulevard.
"The Channel Road project will act as a reliever for Jefferson Road as a north-south connection. Cottonwood is affected because the alignment of Channel is clipping the side of the building," Lozoya added.
Discussions had been ongoing for about a year on the best way to proceed, along with possible alternative locations. "[The city] started the process of acquiring the property early so as to not put any stress on the business," Lozoya told the paper. "We wanted to give the business and property owner enough time to deal with it."