At a Corrales Planning and Zoning meeting in March, the room was hot. Several community members had come to speak against the projects that came before, and the Kilcup family presented last. Charmayne Kilcup expected to spend the night defending the plan. Instead, her sister and father spoke, about five people stood up in favor, and the room turned. "It was like a Hallmark movie moment," she told the Albuquerque Journal.

The project that night was The Station Corrales at 4765 Corrales Road, and it opened in September. Its story, along with a quieter filing further down the road, shows how new commerce is taking shape on Corrales Road. These projects are built around limits, and the limits make them daytime, all-ages places by design.

Fifteen Years of Weeds, Then a $2 Million Rebuild

For roughly 15 years the nearly one-acre lot sat empty, with abandoned buildings and growing mounds of weeds and dirt. After months of renovation and a $2 million investment, four locally owned shops opened there in September as the first phase of openings that will continue through next year.

The site had other lives before it went quiet. It held an event space that hosted high school dances, an archery shop and a French restaurant. Its previous owner, a local, planned a dinner restaurant there but couldn't make it work.

The Kilcups bought the property in April 2025. Five Corrales natives from the family led the development. They also own FacilityBUILD, a commercial construction and renovation company, which handled the construction and design. Charmayne Kilcup is a therapist by trade, and this was her first development.

The Limit That Set the Concept

The detail that explains The Station is its address. The property sits across Corrales Road from Corrales K-8 School. Cailyn Kilcup, one of the founders, told the Corrales Comment the family knew that being near the school meant they wouldn't get a liquor license. They took that as a chance to build something family friendly. She added that the project is also meant to ease a shortage of places for young children outside of parks.

Every tenant decision follows from that limit. Lauren Wenderoth, who owns The Village Refillery, said the spot across from the school is convenient for parents, who buy more cleaning products than anyone else. Candace Swindle said the playground area helped her choose The Station for The Enchanted Boxcar. "There was no other spot," she said.

The outdoor layout follows the same plan. The family built a patio with seating, a play area for children, a planter centerpiece and a deck set farther from the play area for anyone who wants a quieter spot.

"We wanted to create the kind of place we crave in our own lives ... somewhere we can bring our children, meet a friend, shop from a local business, run into your neighbors and stay awhile." Cailyn Kilcup, co-founder, in the Albuquerque Journal

Who's Open Now

All four phase-one shops are owned by women who live in Corrales.

Moonflower Botanicals is young even by The Station's standards. Arce founded it about eight months ago, and her stock runs from cut flowers and natural herbicides to plant-themed books. She said she has known the Kilcups and the other tenants for a long time. Wenderoth said she was astonished by the crowd at the Sept. 19 grand opening.

Shops Inside an 1896 Depot

The buildings are the reason for the name. Much of the retail space sits inside historic Santa Fe Railway structures: a depot built in 1896 and two-and-a-half former boxcars. All of them were moved from southern Albuquerque to this lot in the early 1950s. The Kilcups don't know why they were moved. They made restoring them central to the project, and these structures now house four of The Station's six business units.

Restoring them was the hardest part of the job. Charmayne Kilcup said gutting the old buildings turned up "one issue after another." Each one needed new walls, bathrooms, electrical, plumbing, roofs and siding. "Really anything you could think of, we've had to redo," she said. The Enchanted Boxcar does business inside one of the renovated railroad cars.

What's coming in 2027

The restaurant comes later, and it fits the same daytime pattern. A brunch restaurant is expected in January 2027, followed by an ice cream truck in March. The brunch spot will move into a building on the lot that dates to the early 1930s. Cailyn Kilcup expects the restaurant's opening to make The Station even busier. Both openings are projections, and dates for small restaurants often slip.

Further Down Corrales Road, the Same Trade on Paper

The Station isn't the only Corrales Road property built around a use it gave up. At 3923 Corrales Road, Quilts Ole plans a central location that would fill the entire north building of a new two-building site, and the shop intends to close its other locations. Modulus Design is the applicant, representing property owners Dana Brabson and Carol Rising.

At the June 17 Planning and Zoning meeting, the village's planning administrator reported that the building-permit drawings made the north building 820 square feet larger than approved. Its use had changed to all retail, with less impact and a lower occupancy load than the earlier plan, which included restaurant space. She recommended allowing the extra space only on one condition: approval would extinguish the right to a restaurant in that building. Reviving a restaurant later would require a new site development plan. Commissioners approved the revised retail-and-office plan for the north building.

That's the second Corrales Road project this year to choose a lower-intensity, daytime use. The public record on 3923 runs through June, and no opening date has been published.

Further north, a separate 6,000-square-foot project at 4945 Corrales Road appeared on the Sept. 16 Planning and Zoning agenda, with Secondhand Treasures named as the prospective tenant. It's a proposal, and its outcome hasn't been reported.

The road also lost a shop this year. Corrales Teas & Chocolates closed its village store March 8 because its building was slated for demolition for a sewing-training center. It reopened March 13 at 5939 4th St. NW in Albuquerque.

Here's where the three Corrales Road addresses stand:

• 4765 Corrales Road, The Station Corrales. Open with four shops. Brunch is expected in January 2027 and ice cream in March 2027.
• 3923 Corrales Road, Quilts Ole's planned central location. Retail plan approved in June, with the north building's restaurant right given up. No opening date published.
• 4945 Corrales Road, Secondhand Treasures proposed. On the Sept. 16 Planning and Zoning agenda.

This Week, the Daytime Calendar Is Full

The Station's first weeks overlap with a full village calendar. Balloon Fiesta is underway, and Mayor Fred Hashimoto notes in NM.news that many balloons launched from Balloon Fiesta Park end up landing in Corrales.

• Old Church Fine Arts Show and Sale. The 38th annual show runs through Oct. 11, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, at 966 Old Church Road.
• Corrales Growers' Market. Sunday markets run through Nov. 1, and the Wednesday market continues until about mid-October. Both run 9 a.m. to noon. The market sets up along Corrales Road between Jones Road and Double S Road. Today's listed vendors include Corrales Classic Farm, Tony's Farm, Siempre Tarde, Susie's Native Bread, Blanton be Plant'n and Dulce Farms.
• Corrales MainStreet scarecrow contest. Entries are on display at local businesses around the village this week.

In the same NM.news report, the mayor asks everyone to drive slowly and yield to equestrians, pedestrians and bicyclists.

Wenderoth summed up the project in the Journal: "Corrales deserves thoughtful businesses and development that add to what already makes this village so special." The brunch restaurant's January opening is the next date to watch.

If you own a home near Corrales Road and wonder how your property looks on paper now that the road is filling in again, Adrian Montgomery can walk you through it with care and current numbers. Request a Home Valuation, and let's start with your corner of the village.