The Food Truck Park at Winrock Is a Rehearsal for Something Bigger

Darin Sand has a third-story office overlooking Winrock Park. One November he watched thousands of people gather below his window for a Christmas tree lighting. Later, on a slow Monday morning, he looked down and saw a couple using the empty amphitheater stage to practice their dancing.

"That's cool that people are just doing that, and feel comfortable," Sand told the Albuquerque Journal. He is senior vice president of development for Goodman Realty Group, which owns and develops Winrock.

Both scenes point to the same thing about this corner of Uptown. The 2-acre park off Louisiana Boulevard NE is still a work in progress, and much of it is being tested while people use it. The clearest example is the food truck park that opened this spring. It sits on a lot that is still reserved for something else, and it is already running on a different schedule than the one announced at launch.

The lot the trucks are parked on

The Campground opened in early May on the southeast corner of Winrock Park, across from the Regal movie theater and near the pond. KRQE reported it open and serving by May 6. The official grand opening came on July 2, with live music, lawn games and drinks from 6 to 9 p.m.

The Journal's May coverage also explained the site's history. The lot used to be an empty, fenced-off pad set aside for a future restaurant. It is still set aside for one. Goodman had not found a tenant, so it put the trucks there to expand the park in the meantime. Sand said that if a restaurant tenant signs, The Campground will move somewhere else on the Winrock property.

Sand gave the trucks a second job too. He described The Campground as a possible incubator for vendors who might later move into Winrock's planned food hall on the north side of the park. The food hall would hold up to 18 vendor spots. In May, Sand put its opening about 18 months to two years out.

That makes the trucks a trial run. What happens to them over the next year is the best early sign of what the food hall will look like.

Four trucks at launch, two at lunch now

The first version of The Campground was ambitious. Its current version is leaner, and the gap between them is the most useful thing to know before you go.

In May, Sand described the four-truck lineup as permanent, with an occasional stand-in when a regular vendor had another event. He also stressed that the trucks were handpicked. "It's not a drive-in and pop-in anytime thing," he said. At the time, someone was taking orders at the El Catrin Mexican Kitchen window.

Winrock's Campground page, updated in late September, now lists only El Catrin and Big Boss Hotlinks as current vendors. Its posted hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The page says hours may run longer during park events, but no other evening hours are listed. Plan a weekday visit around the lunch window. Ordering is online through the menu link on the same page.

None of the sources explain why the hours changed, so this post won't guess. What the current listing makes clear is that the evenings are now built around events.

Where the evenings went

Thursday is the only evening on The Campground's own weekly schedule. Free bingo cards are available starting at 6 p.m. The first round starts at 6:30, and play continues until about 8:30. Prizes include plants and free tickets to Hyena's Comedy Club shows, and the host is a comedian from Hyena's. Bring your own dauber or pen. RSVPs on Hold My Ticket are encouraged but not required. Winrock's calendar listed a bingo night on Thursday, October 1.

Hyena's is a Winrock tenant, so the comedy club is helping fill the park at night. Winrock appears to use the park the same way all year: tenants and free programming draw the evening crowd, and the trucks serve the people who come.

This week the park's calendar picks up:

1. Thursday, October 8, 7:30 to 10 p.m. Family Movie Night in the Park, a free screening of Pixar's Up, with food trucks on site.
2. Friday, October 9, 6 to 9 p.m. The Winrock Night Market, a curated mix of local artisan and craft vendors in Winrock Park.
3. Friday, October 9, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Zivi + The Rocks and Scott Hirsch at Sunward Amphitheater. This is the final night of the Live @ Winrock Fall Series. The show is free, with an RSVP.

October 8 is the only Thursday this month where the calendar lists the movie in place of bingo. Check Winrock's events page before you go if you're planning around the bingo prizes.

The tenants that show the model working

Winrock already has two businesses that show what the food hall is meant to do: give a small vendor a larger audience at the park.

The first is Homebody, a locally owned shop that serves Japanese matcha. Owner Janna Manalo was working as a patient care tech in the neuroscience unit at University of New Mexico Hospital when she bought a cart on Facebook Marketplace for $500 and started doing pop-ups. Her second pop-up was Winrock's fall festival, where the line for her drinks stretched across the park. Sand then invited her to test the concept in a space at Winrock. Homebody opened at Winrock in December, and in one month this year it served 6,400 customers. It has since added 13 employees. The Journal reported that it planned to move into a larger space at Winrock within six months.

"In my head, I'm like, 'How am I going to do this? How is it all going to be?' But ever since then, it's been crazy, like a nonstop line out the door."

Janna Manalo, Homebody, to the Albuquerque Journal

The Campground is meant to repeat that path from pop-up to storefront, using trucks.

The second is 85°C Bakery Café, the Taiwanese chain's first New Mexico location. Albuquerque Business First reported a soft launch on September 9. Winrock lists the café at 2100 Louisiana Blvd NE, Suite 806, open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. The Journal reported that a grand opening was expected in October.

The Journal ties all of this to the park itself. It called the park, with its pond, children's play area, amphitheater and food truck park, a key catalyst for new tenants. Those include FarmaKeio, StretchLab, Hyena's Comedy Club, Chicken Salad Chick and BODYBAR Pilates. In 2007, Winrock had seven tenants outside a vacant mall. It now has 57 tenants and is more than 90% occupied.

The draw extends a few blocks north. Vellum & Vine, a romance bookstore and café, opened August 15 at 2677 Louisiana Blvd NE, on the northwest corner of Louisiana and Menaul. It isn't a Winrock tenant. Albuquerque Business First reported that its opening line lasted about three hours at its peak. Its regular hours aren't listed in the research, so check before a Menaul-to-Winrock afternoon.

What's planned next, in rough order

The Boathouse. Goodman plans to open its own sports bar in an existing building at Winrock Park. It will have a nautical theme and a patio built out over the pond. Albuquerque Business First reported on September 9 that it was planned for October. As of October 4, no opening day has been confirmed.

A new road and the food hall. Goodman plans to demolish Winrock Loop and build a new road just north of BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse. The road will run straight to a new office building with a food hall on the north end of the park. Reworking the loop opens pad space north of BJ's for one or two new buildings, possibly restaurants. Groundbreaking on the road and food hall is targeted for next year.

A restaurant inside the park. Winrock Park is slated to get a new restaurant once Goodman finds the right tenant. That is the step that would move The Campground, because the trucks are parked on the restaurant site.

A hotel with condominiums. Goodman hopes to break ground within about two and a half years, west of the park.

Sand has been open that these timelines may change. The original redevelopment plan was supposed to take five to seven years. Nearly 20 years later, the 84-acre site is still being finished, after delays from the 2008 recession and the pandemic.

Until those projects arrive, here is what's confirmed. El Catrin and Big Boss Hotlinks serve lunch Tuesday through Saturday across from the Regal. Bingo cards come out at 6 p.m. on most Thursdays. On Friday the 9th, the fall concert series ends at Sunward Amphitheater.

Many of us at Origins Realty Group keep a close eye on how places like Winrock Park take shape, from a temporary lot to a planned food hall to new pad sites. If you'd like to know how projects like these may affect your part of Albuquerque, connect with a Santa Fe real estate expert who follows those plans closely.