ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Downtown Albuquerque has a bad rap, and instances like this weekend’s shooting only scare people away from the Historic Route 66.

But the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency told KOB 4 there are projects in the works to improve downtown’s image.

As construction projects along Central near completion, city officials are hopeful new projects will give folks a new opinion about downtown.

“On the west side of downtown, we have the Arrive Hotel which is set to open up around Balloon Fiesta with more than 100 new rooms,” Terry Brunner, director of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency. “Next to that we have the new Ex Novo location which is also currently under construction at the old Firestone. On the east side of downtown, we have the Central crossing project of the Rail Trail that will start demolition in the next few weeks.”

There’s also the new apartment complex, the Downtowner, has been approved on Second St. and Silver. 

City officials hope this plethora of new projects draw in people to the downtown area.

“Really, the solution for downtown is more people. We need people to engage with downtown 24/7 at lunch hour, at dinner time, at night and during the day. We need people to engage with downtown rather than disengage,” said Brunner. 

Brunner says when downtown is empty, that’s when folks run into trouble. 

“We hope the bodies and more activity downtown will drive out some of the negative elements,” Brunner said. 

He says there is growing interest in the city’s revitalization efforts.

“We had an open house the other day, more than 100 people showed up. So I thought that was a good turn out, showed a little bit of energy,” Brunner said. 

While some projects like the Downtowner have run into some road blocks, officials hope all these projects will be ready to go by next year. 

The Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency says people want more restaurants, more walkability, and more things to do – things they find in Nob Hill.