Development director looks inward
Benefield spending first months on job helping local businesses expand

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — The problem with being economic development director for the city of Gallup is that people expect too much, City Manager Eric Honeyfield said last week.

What they expect is for the city's economic development director to bring in big boxes, chain restaurants and major manufacturing, and Honeyfield said that is not what Glen Benefield was hired to do.

Benefield is now completing his fourth month as economic development director and was given good marks by Honeyfield for doing what he was supposed to do help local businesses expand and get through the red tape that causes frustrations and expense.

Benefield said he has been spending most of his time meeting with local business owners and seeing what he can do to help them become bigger.

For example, Chili Factory, which has been in the Rio West Mall for years, is now preparing to open another restaurant in Zecca Plaza and work is being finalized for the establishment of a laundromat there as well.

He has also spent some time meeting with General Growth, the company that owns the Rio West Mall and feels they are committed to bringing in more business to the mall.

Questions have arisen about the health of the mall ever since K-Mart and then Allen Theaters moved out several years ago, but while the Gallup facility is only one of 150 malls operated by General Growth as well as one of its smallest, that doesn't mean that it's been forgotten, Benefield said.

The company has hired a couple of professionals to look at the Gallup mall and come up with ideas about new prospects.

Benefield said he sent them a couple of leads about possible new tenants.

One thing that is under discussion within the mall, he said, is what to do about the space formerly used by K-Mart, which was one of the anchors (along with JCPenney and Bealls)

There's talk, he said, about dividing up the 80,000 square feet into smaller stores, but efforts are still under way to attract a major chain that would provide an anchor for that side of the mall.

Benefield said he is also talking to companies about establishing stores in downtown Gallup, where the costs are a great deal less than setting up at the mall or even Zecca Plaza.

He said he is in the process of finalizing a couple of projects that should mean more businesses in the downtown area.

Although he cannot give any names, he said he is also talking to a couple of national chains that have expressed an interest in setting up in Gallup near Wal-Mart. Benefield said that if these talks prove to be successful, the chains should be under construction sometime this year.