Spaceport America will take out loans for $21 million to build visitor centers at the spaceport and in the town of Truth or Consequences, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News.
The visitor centers are critical to the Spaceport Authority’s business model, which predicts 200,000 visitors per year (about 550 on an average day).
The State of New Mexico included $15 million for visitor center construction in the spaceport’s $209 million budget appropriation two years ago. That money is no longer available, however, due to cost escalation (including the recent requirement to add a $7 million runway extension). The state Board of Finance has given the Spaceport Authority to seek private loans instead. The loans would be secured by mortgages against the visitor-center buildings.
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