Historic Albuquerque Gizmo building to reopen as gallery and housing

A historic Albuquerque building on Central Avenue that has sat vacant for years is being renovated into an artist gallery, studio space and re-entry housing. The four-story building, which once housed a JCPenney before becoming the Gizmo clothing store, has been bought by the founder of a downtown gallery.

Sheri Crider, founder and director of Sanitary Tortilla Factory, purchased the property and is leading the renovation. The Gizmo clothing store closed in 2018, and the building has remained empty since.

“Historic spaces like this one have held so much life in the history of a community, and to renovate them and bring new life to them is super important for multiple reasons,” Crider said.

Sanitary Tortilla Factory focuses on giving artists opportunities. Crider said the building will house print manufacturing, a gallery and exhibition space.

“It will give artists a place to make work, it’ll give artists a place to show work, and hopefully will also have an art supply store,” Crider said.

Crider is also planning re-entry housing for previously incarcerated artists. “We’ll have five or six apartments, communal dining living space, along with studio apartments, and we’ll have on-site counseling,” she said.

Albuquerque City Councilor Joaquin Baca said he hopes the project encourages further revitalization downtown. “It being such a big prominent property, it’ll have a much bigger effect than some of these other homes, like you will know that things are changing downtown,” Baca said.

Crider is also a contractor and said she will oversee most of the renovation work. She hopes to open the building sometime in fall.