NMSU to install new complex to attract more investment
NEW MEXICO – A planned US$15 million complex at New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Park is expected to attract film and television projects that in turn could generate millions of dollars for the area and help creative media students gain valuable experience.
In June, the NMSU Board of Regents unanimously approved an agreement between the New Mexico Economic Development Department, NMSU and Arrowhead Center Inc. to build a 36,400-square-foot complex for film and television productions. Creative media students from NMSU and Doña Ana Community College will also have the opportunity for paid internships working on these productions, a key component of the project.
“This is a great day for the film community in Las Cruces and southern New Mexico,” stated State Senator Jeff Steinborn, president of Film Las Cruces, who led efforts to secure funding for the Las Cruces set.
The creation of a studio in Las Cruces has long been a goal of Film Las Cruces and local filmmakers, and this new facility will add valuable film production infrastructure to our region, the senator noted.
The project is funded by the NMEDD under the Media Arts Collaborative Initiative to grow the state’s film industry. Once completed, NMSU will lease the set to a company that will operate and maintain it and either shoot its own productions at the complex or lease it to other production companies, explained Wayne Savage, executive director of Arrowhead Park.
The company to operate the complex will be selected through a request for proposals, or RFP, process, development of which has already begun. Savage said the hope is to have a company contracted by the time the complex is completed in January 2026.
“This sound studio complex at NMSU’s Arrowhead Park is a game changer for the New Mexico film industry,” said Mateo Frazier, interim executive director of the New Mexico Media Arts Collective.
Frazier noted that the property bridges the gap between education and professional production, creating invaluable opportunities for our students and attracting great projects to southern New Mexico.
Arrowhead Center Inc. will manage the development of the complex that will be located south of DACC’s Creative Media Technology building in Arrowhead Park, and near the location of the proposed NMSU Creative Media Institute building. The three buildings will be among the components that make up the Las Cruces Creative Campus envisioned by Kevin Boberg, Ph.D., first director and CEO of the Arrowhead Center and former NMSU vice president for economic development who passed away in 2021.
According to Savage, the complex is expected to create 200 new full-time jobs and help increase the number of local film crews who regularly work on film and television productions in the area. The complex has the potential to attract a television series that will spend between US$12 million and US$15 million over a six-month period on food, lodging and other services. An average-sized film project might spend about US$4 million over two months.
The agreement between NMSU, Arrowhead Center Inc. and NMEDD has a total duration of 12 years, including a two-year development phase and a 10-year operations phase, after which NMSU can decide whether to continue operation of the complex as a sound stage or convert it to serve other purposes.
Savage said the anticipated groundbreaking date is sometime in the first quarter of 2025.
