Bernalillo County recently voted unanimously to transfer ownership of the $13 million Route 66 Visitor Center to the City of Albuquerque.
KRQE-TV reports both the county and city had a joint agreement over the operation of the facility on Nine Mile Hill on Albuquerque’s far west side.
However, Albuquerque City Councilor Klarissa Peña told the station: “At this point, the board really feels like maybe they don’t have the capacity to carry it out to what it really needs to be and should be.”
Peña says the commission would transition to more of an advisory role; she says part of the reason for the change is that the county can’t get the licensing done to bring businesses, like taprooms and breweries, into the event space.
“The city knows how to operate a visitor’s center, I mean they do the Albuquerque Museum, they do Explora; I think they’re more equipped and better poised to be able to just ensure that it becomes what the community has envisioned it to be so many years ago,” Peña said.
The report notes the visitors center “is not yet living up to the potential the city and county hoped it would.”
To be fair, the center isn’t in full operation, so it’s hard to live up to any sort of potential when it’s only partly functional.
The transfer probably will be finalized by late March.
The Route 66 Visitor Center — desired by local officials for 30 years — had been beset by escalating construction costs and delays. Many of those problems stemmed from disruptions by the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Screen-capture image from video of the Route 66 Visitor Center in Albuquerque)