White Rock's Old Pizza Buildings Are Where Its Next Gathering Places Are Coming From

The vacant building at 116 and 118 State Route 4 used to be Time Out Pizza. A few blocks away, the building at 25 Bonnie View Drive was once a Pizza Hut and is now El Rigoberto's Tacos. Both are slated for conversion rather than demolition, and the reason has a lot to do with what is already inside the walls.

The pattern shows up across White Rock's commercial core this year. A sports bar and frozen yogurt shop are planned inside the old Time Out Pizza building. A shared commercial kitchen is planned for the old Pizza Hut. A Longview Drive building was rebuilt down to new plumbing and electrical. And a café on Sherwood Boulevard reopened after renovations. For anyone waiting to see what fills White Rock's empty storefronts, the useful questions are which buildings are being reused and what timeline each one is tied to.

Why the Old Kitchens Go First

The plainest explanation comes from Kim Bergstrom, who is buying the Bonnie View building to turn it into the Los Alamos Kitchen Collective. In a Colliers New Mexico release covered by the Santa Fe New Mexican's business column on September 22, 2026, she explained why the site made sense:

"The property was a strong fit because it had previously operated as a restaurant, so it already has much of the infrastructure a commercial kitchen requires, including a commercial hood, plumbing, floor drains and other food-service systems."

A commercial hood, floor drains and food-service plumbing are expensive to add to a building that never had them. A former restaurant comes with them already installed, and that changes the math for a small, local operator. The Rock project at the old Time Out Pizza site follows the same logic at a bigger scale. Los Alamos County's economic development administrator described it to council as a plan to "repurpose the vacant building on the property into a 'multi-service community hub,'" according to the Los Alamos Daily Post.

The Rock's site sits within what the Reporter called the White Rock Centralized Downtown Redevelopment Project, and the other two conversions are on Bonnie View and Longview. Los Alamos County adopted the White Rock Town Center Master Plan in 2021 and a final White Rock Metropolitan Redevelopment Area plan in October 2022. The plan names Bonnie View, Longview and Rover as targeted redevelopment areas.

The Rock Has a Contract, Not an Opening Date

The Rock is the furthest along on paper and the hardest to put on a calendar. VE Holdings, a partnership of local residents Janet Lovato and Timoteo Martinez, first applied to the county for Local Economic Development Act funding on September 19, 2025, the Los Alamos Reporter reported. The plan puts a bar, a frozen yogurt shop, a laundromat, food truck infrastructure and new EV chargers in the former Time Out Pizza building.

Los Alamos County Council approved the project 7–0 on August 25, 2026, according to the League of Women Voters observer corps report published in the Reporter. The Daily Post's account of that meeting gives the loan terms, and those terms set the pace for the project better than any announced date could:

• The money: an $868,000 loan at 0 percent interest, set at 80 percent of the property's appraised value, against a total project cost of a little more than $2.1 million. The rest comes from developer equity, a USDA grant and other sources.
• The repayment: a 24-month deferral from the effective date, then 96 monthly payments of $9,041.
• The building deadline: a certificate of occupancy within 12 months of the loan being disbursed.
• The hours: once open, The Rock has to operate eight hours a day, five days a week, including one weekend day, until the loan is repaid.
• The jobs: at least eight full-time positions.

That 12-month clock starts when the money is disbursed, not on a fixed calendar date. The county's ordinance file likewise ties the required capital improvements to 12 months after loan disbursement. The county's revenue projections begin in 2027. The Daily Post reported projected annual sales of $1.26 million in 2027, rising to more than $3.1 million by 2031.

The public comments at that meeting explain why a laundromat sits next to a sports bar in the plan. Audrey Marroquin, associate director of the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce, told council the model "supports both community gathering and practical, local needs," and added that "public laundry access is very much limited" in White Rock, the Daily Post reported. Becca Jones, who plans to run the frozen yogurt shop, said: "People want more to do locally. They want welcoming places to gather outside of work and home."

On Bonnie View, the Taco Shop Stays Until the Lease Runs Out

The Bonnie View building runs on a different clock, one set by a lease. The 2,400-square-foot building at 25 Bonnie View Drive is currently home to El Rigoberto's Tacos. The New Mexican reported that the restaurant will leave in March 2027 when its lease expires, and Bergstrom will then begin renovations.

Here is the sequence as it stands in October 2026:

1. Now through March 2027: El Rigoberto's Tacos keeps operating in the former Pizza Hut, according to the September report.
2. April 2027: renovation begins, according to the Los Alamos Kitchen Collective's website, which now lists the property as purchased.
3. Fall 2027: the first phase opens, the target given in both the September coverage and the collective's own site.

When it opens, the collective will not be a restaurant. It will rent licensed commercial kitchen space by the hour to caterers, bakers, food producers and instructors. Its site also lists equipment, dry, cold and frozen storage, and business support for food trucks, packaged-food makers and meal-prep businesses. Some of the food sold around White Rock later on may be made on Bonnie View even if it is sold somewhere else. The Rock's food truck pads and a shared kitchen down the road would fit together well, though neither project has announced a partnership with the other.

Longview's Renovated Building Still Has Room

The third reuse is the least visible. Owner Chris Luchini fully renovated 130 Longview Drive, just off the main corridor. A Colliers release published by the Los Alamos Reporter on August 6, 2026 called it one of the first restoration projects completed in White Rock in years. Rachel Andreatta of Sol Studio, an independent stylist, signed a lease for about 825 square feet there. She said, "The open floor plan and the County's plans for the area are what drew me to the space."

The other 1,350 square feet in the building is still available, with new plumbing and electrical, high ceilings and a private lot next door that has 50 percent more parking than code requires. Luchini told the Reporter he envisions "a tap room, food establishment, or other business" that would work well alongside Sol Studio. That puts the Longview area on the same path as the two pizza buildings: a renovated shell whose owner is looking for a food or drink tenant. No tenant for that space has been announced.

What's Already Open While the Rest Gets Built

The reuse story has a finished example on Sherwood Boulevard. Pig + Fig at 11 Sherwood Blvd. celebrated its grand reopening after renovations with a Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting on June 3, 2026. The Daily Post announcement listed hours of Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., which means dinner service is back.

A few other 2026 additions are already in use:

Anytime Fitness's grand opening announcement and the Stone family's farm stand launch both ran in the Los Alamos Reporter. The farm stand's hours were reported at its spring launch and depend on what the family's greenhouse is producing, so the fall schedule may differ.

Each project on the list runs on its own clock. Pig + Fig has already reopened. The taco shop's lease runs through March 2027. The Kitchen Collective plans to open in fall 2027. The Rock's 12-month building clock starts only when its loan money is disbursed.

If you own a home near Bonnie View, Longview or State Route 4 and want to know how this redevelopment fits into your home's value, Jessica Hoffer can walk you through it with a local, no-pressure conversation. Start with an Instant Home Valuation and we'll take it from there.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.