An honest-to-goodness partnership.

Mesa del Sol is a unique collaboration between governmental, educational, non-profit and for-profit organizations. It’s a rare example of public and private interests working together to accomplish a shared goal: to fulfill the promise of this place and create long-term benefits for the whole region.

To be specific, Mesa del Sol is a partnership between Forest City Covington NM, LLC, the University of New Mexico (UNM) and the State of New Mexico through the State Land Office (SLO). The goal of the State Land Office is to increase value and income on behalf of New Mexico’s public schools. So in selecting Forest City Covington to develop Mesa del Sol, the SLO negotiated an agreement whereby the SLO will receive future income from Mesa del Sol in addition to the 100 percent of proceeds from the original land sale. This income will be in the form of both rent payments from Forest City Covington as well as a 14 percent share of the increased land value — value which is being created, risk free, by Forest City Covington’s efforts and investments.

UNM is also benefiting from its association with Mesa del Sol. As the community proceeds, UNM receives (again, risk-free) 15 percent of the development’s net profits. And with a $750,000 endowment from Forest City Covington, the UNM Foundation established the Mesa del Sol Endowed Professorship in Film and Media. This helped to launch UNM’s new Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media program, which is now up and running in Mesa del Sol’s Aperture Center.

Mesa del Sol began as a community of interests. And this is resulting in a very interesting community.