By Sara Atencio-Gonzales, The Paper – The Orpheum Community Hub is temporarily closed as Homewise begins a major renovation project aimed at expanding its office space while preserving one of Downtown Albuquerque’s most historic buildings. Community programming has temporarily moved to Fourth & Barelas, and the organization expects to reopen the Orpheum in 2027.
Before closing for renovations, the Orpheum Community Hub served as a gathering place for community events, arts programming and classes in downtown Albuquerque. The venue regularly hosted ABQ Artwalk exhibitions, including its annual Art Teachers Are Art Makers showcase featuring New Mexico arts educators. It also welcomed events such as the All Abilities Art Show, which featured artists from the disability community, and free weekly Latin dance classes open to the public.
The temporary closure has also affected the many community groups that relied on the Orpheum’s theater and event space. Monica Bencomo, community development creative manager at Homewise, said the venue was in constant use throughout the year.
“We had 243 days out of the year that the space was used,” says Bencomo. “There was a few of them where there were three organizations using the space in one day.”
While most programming will continue at Fourth & Barelas during construction, Homewise announced that ABQ Artwalk has been placed on hiatus until the Orpheum reopens.
According to Westin Glass, real estate development project director at Homewise, the renovation is driven by the organization’s continued growth and the need for additional workspace. The historic building, which dates back more than a century, has served many purposes throughout its history.
“The building is over 100 years old, and it’s been a whole bunch of different things over its life, including a movie theater, a bus depot, a mechanic shop, artist studios, a furniture store,” says Glass.
Homewise purchased the building in 2018 and renovated the ground floor into office space while maintaining apartments on the upper floors. Now, the organization is converting the second and third floors into offices to accommodate its growing staff.
“We’re growing, we’re hiring people, and we just need the space,” says Glass. “It’s going to more than double the number of offices and the number of conference rooms that we have.”
While the renovation will modernize the building, Homewise is working to preserve many of its historic features.
“We’re making sure to take some select areas and preserve the old finishes, like exposing the old brick in certain places,” says Glass. “We’re mostly just moving around walls on the inside, so the exterior of the building, for the most part, will look exactly the same as it does right now.”
Glass also emphasizes that the Orpheum Theater itself will remain untouched.
“The actual Orpheum Theater space itself is not changing. We’re not doing anything to that space. That’ll stay exactly as it is,” says Glass.
Renovating a building that has stood for more than 100 years has already presented unique challenges. Because historical records are incomplete, crews have had to investigate the building’s structure before construction could move forward.
“We just started the demolition, and on a building that old, you always find some unexpected things,” says Glass. “There’s no drawings, there’s no records of any of this stuff. So we had to go and cut into walls and figure out, ‘Oh, there’s a steel beam here.'”
Although much of the work will happen behind the scenes, visitors can expect noticeable improvements when they return. Glass explains that the renovated lobby will be one of the most visible changes.
“We’re also doing a really nice renovation to the lobby,” says Glass. “It’s just going to be a much nicer space to work in and serve our clients, and having our whole Albuquerque team in one place will be great.”
Homewise staff relocated to a temporary office in June while construction is underway. Glass hopes employees can move back into the renovated building within about a year, though he acknowledged that renovation timelines for historic buildings can shift as new discoveries are made during construction.
For now, Glass says the closure is short lived.
“It’s only temporary. We’re going to be back in there once the project is done, and it’ll be better than ever.”