ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — After hundreds of 911 calls and nearly a hundred arrests, a problematic motel in southeast Albuquerque is set to be demolished.

The University of New Mexico bought the Motel 6, near I-25 and Avenda Cesar Chavez, for $5 million. Now, they have a black gate and patched up walls and doors around the place. They say it has been on their radar for years.

“They said this is one of the number one priorities, is to eliminate this threat from south campus and directed me to acquire the property,” said Tom Neal, the director of real estate at UNM. “We’ve been looking at this property for a number of years, and identified it as a as a threat to South Campus from the criminal activity. We’ve had a series of events down here at South Campus that have heightened or concern over criminal activity in this area.”

The motel is less than a half-mile away from Lobo Village. From January 2019 to September 2024, Albuquerque Police Department data shows they made 88 arrests and received nearly 300 calls for service to the motel.

UNM closed on purchasing it in February.

“We have a really exciting vision for the whole area of South Campus. We’re really focused on trying to create a very vibrant sports entertainment and technology district here,” Neal said.

They plan to demolish the hotel and rebuild from the ground up.

“We envision this corridor as a gateway to South Campus. And we’d like to see really quality development, including restaurants, retail services in this area,” Neal said.

As for providing safety going forward?

“We’re not unique here at South Campus to other parts of the city. I can say we’re working really closely with UNMPD, APD and our administration to measure we can do to further create safety down in this area,” Neal said. “Once the motel is down, that will kind of eliminate one of the largest threats that we’ve had as a hub for criminal activity. But we’re still going to keep pressing further with other measures we can do to keep folks safe down here.”

Neal said law enforcement agencies currently use the motel to train on force entry. He said they will do so until they demolish the motel within the next week.