The UNM Press building was demolished Wednesday and Thursday, making room for a $10.8 million office complex.
Andrew Cullen, budget administrator, said the University is building an administrative business facility that will hold several organizations that are spread out among six sites across campus.
UNM is partnering with the Sandia Foundation, which contracted the architects and construction companies for the project.
Cullen said the regents approved the project proposal in December 2004.
"I think the regents view this as an exciting project for the University," he said.
The building will be 70,000 square-feet and is scheduled to be completed Dec. 1, 2005.
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The organizations moving in include human resources, accounts payable, purchasing, payroll, general accounting and an academic unit of UNM's Speech and Hearing Department.
Susan Carkeek, associate vice president of human resources, said the move is positive for the department.
"We've been excited about the opportunity to have the HR staff together," she said. "It will be nice to bring those different administrative functions into one place."
She said the building will be a one-stop administration stop.
"People will be able to go to one place to get everything done," she said, adding that human resources, accounting and payroll are now in three different buildings.
"Gradually we are just trying to get all the departments together," she said.
UNM Press formerly resided in the demolished building, the Lobo Center, on the corner of Lomas and University boulevards.
The department moved to a temporary office complex near Sunport International Airport earlier this month.
Luther Wilson, UNM Press director, said staff members like their new headquarters but miss some aspects of the old building.
"We miss the location of the previous office," he said. "We were on campus, which made things more convenient."
He said the old building had some problems.
"The roof leaked, the heating came on when it was warm, and the swamp cooler came on when it was cold," he said, adding the building didn't have many offices and had bad lighting.
"The last building had just one window, because it was an old storefront," he said.
The new offices, he said, are much nicer.
"It's much better in terms of purposes," he said. "We have real offices with doors. It's very comfortable and has lots of parking."
Wilson said the location is also closer to the printing press, warehouse and shipping.
"We're now about a mile away from them - three minutes, actually," he said. "I timed it several times."
UNM Press will move back onto campus, Wilson said. He said he doesn't know when or where, but speculates it will be sometime in early 2006.
UNM Press has 15 full-time employees, 12 student employees and three interns, he said.
Wilson said the moving process was rough on the department.
"It's a disruption of business," he said, adding that it took more than two weeks to get moved into the temporary facility over winter break.
"I'm going to have a hard time convincing my staff to move back," he said.
