Tres Placitas in Albuquerque, NM

Tres Placitas is a single-family subdivision in Northwest Albuquerque, wrapped by Cibola Loop NW and reached from Ellison Drive. Artistic built it out at the turn of the millennium, and the plat came with its own park: a grassy block at Pueblo Place with two playgrounds, a basketball court and shaded picnic tables, mountains on the horizon. A short asphalt path, the Tres Placitas Trail, runs the east bank of the Black Arroyo channel and ties the streets to the McMahon Boulevard Trail. A homeowners association maintains the common areas and grounds.

Recreation reaches past the plat lines. The Cibola Loop Multigenerational Center, at Cuba Road and Cibola Loop, holds a gymnasium under an elevated indoor running track, a fitness center with a climbing gym, classrooms and a social hall, and the building was angled to take in the Sandia and Manzano views.

The neighborhood path is under a mile of asphalt and reads as a loose loop, one end at Cibola Loop NW and the other at Ellison Drive, where it meets the McMahon Boulevard Trail. Albuquerque Public Schools serves the subdivision through Seven Bar Elementary, Taylor Middle School and Cibola High School.