Two Albuquerque projects, one shared idea — that flood control infrastructure deserves the same design attention as any building in the neighborhood it protects.
Tucked into the southeast corner of Zuni Rd SE and Pennsylvania St NE, the new Zuni-Pennsylvania Detention Pond is regional flood infrastructure built to relieve peak capacity issues in the Dallas Storm Drain System — roughly 14 feet deep and holding approximately 15 acre-feet of stormwater for AMAFCA. Compass NM served as General Contractor, bringing the same precision to the cast-in-place walls that they brought to the civil work. Spec Formliners supplied custom urethane form liners to EJ Tools and Supply, who handled the CIP walls on the ground in New Mexico.
One design decision made all the difference. Our team recommended adding a reveal where multiple custom textures meet along the walls — a small architectural detail that lets each pattern read on its own instead of blending into the next. Architect John Pope of Pland Collaborative took the suggestion and built it directly into the approved shop drawings. The finished panels turned out so well that a local news station ran a feature on the project, putting the textured walls on TV — proof that flood control infrastructure can be something a community is proud to look at.
For nearly 20 years, the historic neighborhoods of Martineztown, Barelas, and Santa Barbara in Albuquerque had been hit by devastating floods — and for nearly 20 years, flood relief had been promised. When the City of Albuquerque finally broke ground on the $17 million Marble-Arno Stormwater Pump Station and Detention Pond, Mayor Tim Keller put it plainly: they were going from planning to reality.
But a pump station is only as good as the community it belongs to. The design brief called for perimeter enclosure walls that would add to the neighborhood's history and character — not just screen a utility facility. That meant full-height, full-size custom urethane liners: panel-scale, no seams, no tile-repeat interruptions. Castillo Prestress cast the precast panels directly with our liners, delivering a continuous architectural texture across every wall section. The result is a piece of civic infrastructure that actually feels like it belongs in the city it protects.
Whether it's a regional detention pond, a civic pump station, or anything in between — we engineer the formliner to fit your vision, your community, and your timeline.