The former American Home Furniture warehouse near Albuquerque's Big I interchange has been demolished, clearing the way for a 377,414-square-foot industrial project from developer Lee Blaugrund. The demolition marks another chapter in the slow unwinding of a retail chain that spent decades anchoring New Mexico's furniture market before its collapse this year.
According to The Business Journals, Blaugrund is replacing the former American Home Furniture facility with the new industrial building, which sits near the busy interchange where Interstate 25 meets Interstate 40. The outlet reports the old warehouse has been demolished, though specifics on the project's construction timeline, tenants, and total cost have not been disclosed.
The project's scale is notable for Albuquerque's industrial sector. The same report notes the new building's footprint of 377,414 square feet, a size that would rank among the larger industrial developments to break ground in the metro area in recent years.
A Retailer's Collapse Paved the Way
American Home Furniture's exit from the local market did not happen overnight. The company, founded in 1936, spent most of a century as a fixture of New Mexico retail before its finances gave out. CEO Kenton Van Harten said the company explored every recovery path but was unable to secure necessary financing, according to bizjournals.com's coverage of the retailer's liquidation following a bankruptcy dismissal.
The Menaul property is being repurposed for a different use. Separately, Sedberry & Associates and AMC Development have partnered to bring a major retail hub to 3535 Menaul NE, a property identified in reporting from the Albuquerque Journal as a former American Home Furniture site.
Retail Redevelopment Takes a Different Shape
The Menaul project envisions six new individual commercial buildings spanning more than 55,000 square feet of retail space across nearly 10 acres, the Journal reported. Panda Express and Mister Car Wash have been named as tenants, along with a third retailer that Sedberry said is not yet ready to be identified but will occupy 30,000 square feet of the development.
City officials approved a replat of the Menaul land into six new parcels in late 2025, and construction on that project started in March, per the same account. Developers expect that retail hub to reach completion in two phases during the spring and summer of 2027, though a total development cost has not yet been determined.
Demolition timing at the Menaul store has been reported inconsistently. The Journal's account states that Sedberry & Associates, which has owned the Menaul Boulevard property for seven years, demolished the American Home Furniture store in 2024. A separate report from KOB describes demolition as underway at the old building and says it is not clear how long that work will take. KOB's report adds that the store at Menaul and Carlisle originally opened in 1967 and covered 175,000 square feet. The discrepancy between the two demolition accounts has not been resolved.
Industrial Market Stays Tight Heading Into Winter
The new Big I-area project is arriving at a moment when Albuquerque's industrial real estate sector looks relatively healthy. CBRE reported that the market maintained relatively stable conditions in the third quarter of 2026 as occupier demand rebounded following a softer second quarter. The commercial real estate firm also noted the absence of new supply additions during that period, with vacancy remaining low by historical standards.
CBRE attributed that stability to low vacancy and rising rental rates supporting the market as the third quarter closed. The tight conditions echo patterns seen in past industrial cycles in the region: a decade earlier, a CBRE industrial specialist noted that newer buildings constructed after 2000, with ceiling heights above 22 or 24 feet, were running at about 3 percent vacancy, according to a 2015 report from csrednm.com.
The Big I-area project is planned to span 377,414 square feet.
