Neighborhood Series: Loma Colorado

Loma Colorado sits above the surrounding area over-looking the Rio Grande valley and further east to the Sandia Mountains.  It extends south from Northern Blvd along Loma Colorado Blvd and west to Broadmoor Blvd before jogging south to De Deportes Arroyo and straight east to the Vista Hills boundary. I remember driving on Loma Colorado Blvd before there were any extensive home developments.  Blades Skating Rink (now the MAC Sports Center) was one of the first buildings to be built followed by the Rio Rancho High School, a state-of-the-art technology and academy concept school built in partnership with Intel.  The drive down Loma Colorado Blvd looks much different today. Whether you are just driving through or visiting one of the many state-of-the-art complexes, churches, schools, or parks, you will most likely notice that the Loma Colorado neighborhood is a very active community. It’s a relatively small neighborhood but one that offers more than most. 

A Healthy Lifestyle, A Healthy Community

Loma Colorado is surrounded by several state-of-the-art sports complexes which include the MAC (The McDermott Athletic Centre) Sports Center, the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center, and the Rio Rancho Sports Complex making it quite an exciting place to live.

Photo: themacsports.com

Are you a baseball fan?  Do you have kids that love to play basketball?  Do you enjoy playing hockey or just want to stay fit?  Living in this neighborhood gives you access to the MAC, a 60,000 sqft sports complex practically at your door step.  It offers a baseball/softball facility with six hitting tunnels, a basketball facility with six baskets and two regulation high school sized courts, an ice arena with stadium seating, and a 3,500 sqft fitness center.  Check out their facilities and memberships options, here.

Photo: aquaticcentergaraiki.blogspot.com

Nothing is better than jumping into a pool for a swim when the weather gets hot.  The Rio Rancho Aquatic Center takes front and center for me when I want to get my body moving or stay cool in the summer months. The 10.25 million-dollar facility features a competition pool with eight 25-yard lanes, a warm up pool with three zero depth 25-yard lanes, and a recreation pool complete with slides for the kids.  Want to have a kid’s pool party?  No problem, the Aquatic Center has you covered with two multipurpose rooms. Visit the Rio Rancho city website for more information and pool schedules, here.

Photo: lomacoloradoca.com

Loma Colorado has 90 acres dedicated to parks (Loma Colorado, Arroyo de Despartes, & Mesa Contenta). Twenty percent of the acreage is open space with roughly 3 miles of dedicated trails connecting the neighborhood.  Not enough to get your blood pumping?  The 78.5-acre sports complex will surely do the trick.  Located on the southern border, the Rio Rancho Sports Complex features a very long list of amenities, including outdoor baseball/softball fields, tennis courts, a skate park, picnic area, playground, and dog park.  What more could you want?  If leading an active lifestyle is important to you or you want to give your kids easy access to lots of activity space, Loma Colorado is it!

Centers of Education

The sports complexes and parks aren’t the only benefit to living in the neighborhood.  If you live in Loma Colorado you have the benefit of being minutes from the Rio Rancho Main Public Library and Rio Rancho High School.

Homes in Rio Rancho started being built in 1962. The first library followed shortly after (now called the Esther Bone Memorial Library). It occupied various spaces, but due to the continued growth of Rio Rancho a new library needed to be built. In December of 2006, the Loma Colorado Main Library opened.  Designed by Hidell and Associates Architects, the eco-friendly building gives library guests incredible views of the surrounding landscape, making it both a beautiful and an inspiring place to gather with fellow community members to read.

Rio Rancho High School has become well known, both for its successful state champion track record (winning 40 state championships as of 2016), and its NMPED (New Mexico Public Education Department) grade ranking.  Not only is it highly ranked as one of the top high schools in New Mexico, but it has been given a 10/10 on college readiness by Greatschools.org

Built by Intel in 1997, the state-of-the-art facilities and department-based academies not only offer a huge variety of scholastic activities, but make it feel more like a college campus than a high school.  My own children attended Rio Rancho High school when it first opened, and based on their experience, I can say that the opportunities available help students to excel at the university level.  Plus, it’s kind of neat to see the school show up in scenes from the hit TV show Breaking Bad, or the 2011 film Fright Night.

A Home in Loma Colorado

Now to one of the most important aspects of living in any neighborhood, the home.  The neighborhood includes 1,004 single family homes in over ten different sections of the community offering houses of various styles and sizes built by the Pulte Group.

Photo: pulte.com

When the neighborhood opened it was one of the fastest selling subdivisions of new homes in New Mexico. The benefits of living in a home in Loma Colorado are certainly down to the quality of the builder. The homes here are an attractive draw for home owners for a reason.  The Pulte Group pride themselves on their construction standards which far exceed those of the industry, focusing on premium materials, quality control, and experience.  Pulte homes are not just built with flexible floor plans but with features inspired by home-owners’ direct feedback, optimizing livability and allowing smarter living.  For more information about the Pulte Group and their homes visit their website, here.

Photo: lomacoloradoca.com

In addition to the neighborhood association benefits such as maintenance and landscaping, etc., Loma Colorado is minutes from Hwy 528 and Rancho’s commercial and retail district making its location exceptionally convenient.  Besides Rio Rancho High, local schools like Stapleton Elementary, Eagle Ridge Middle School, and Rio Rancho Shining Star Preschool are minutes from the neighborhood.

Loma Colorado is one of my favorite neighborhoods because of all that it has to offer its residents. If you have a family, big or small, want to have an active lifestyle, or just want to live in a quality home in a convenient neighborhood, then Loma Colorado is the neighborhood for you.  If you want to be close to the action but not live under an association, read my last neighborhood series post on Unit 17 (adjacent to Loma Colorado), here.  Thinking about a new Pulte home?  Read my blog post on the Benefits of Buying a New Construction Home which features the Pulte Group.  If you want to know more about the Loma Colorado neighborhood or any homes on the market in the area, please to contact me today!

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Keys to Real Estate Wealth in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque – by David Apodaca, Associate Broker and Owner of Southwest Realty.  My goal is to help people buy, sell and invest in real estate,and provide individuals with the keys to real estate solutions. 

Keys are important in real estate—keys not just to the door to your home, but keys that are the knowledge on how to gain wealth by investing in real estate.  It can be as simple as maintaining your own home (maintaining its value or adding value), or investing in rental properties (individual houses or multifamily complexes like duplexes or fourplexes).  Knowing what to do and understanding the local real estate market are both keys to gaining personal wealth.

I can provide you with the necessary information so you can make more informed decisions—so that you can have the keys to unlock your potential wealth.  If you have any questions about real estate or the real estate market in Rancho, Albuquerque, Bernalillo, Placitas, Corrales, the East Mountains, or the Jemez Mountains, Sandoval county or Bernalillo county, contact me today.  505-270-0302, David Apodaca.