Many want to know why a Las Cruces eyesore hasn’t been worked on

An eyesore in the heart of downtown Las Cruces has remained untouched for years and many want to know why.

The city says its privately owned and eight years ago construction suddenly stopped. Its been sitting on Main Street between Amador and Lohman ever since.

The dirt lot is piled with rocks, bricks and a bare structural skeleton of grey metal bars.

“They are compliant with the current ordinance which focuses on not creating a health or safety nuisance or problems for our citizens,” Andy Hume, with the Las Cruces Downtown Partnership, said. “What we do not have is an ordinance that requires the owner of a vacant building to have that building occupied or to tear down the building.”

Hume says the property is privately owned and the city can’t infringe on its rights. But only a few feet away, one local business says they’re not happy with the view.

“It definitely looks terrible for sure,” Robert Barreras, owner of Las Cruces Window Tinting and Audio, said. “It definitely hurt business. When it went up people just kind of pass by now. It was definitely nice wide open you could see when we had cars you know from a distance coming down. Now you just kind of pass by it.”

Mayor Ken Miyagishima tells ABC-7 while the structure may be an eyesore, the city is working to revitalize parts of downtown.

“Hopefully in the next six months you’ll start seeing some movement and this could very well be part of it,” Miyagishima said.

But for the sake of his business, Barreras says he hopes they act fast.

“Driving through it looks terrible it makes the city look bad,” he said.

The only contact information ABC-7 could find for the property owner is a post office box in El Paso. They were not able to reach out to him for comment.