Space Command HQ: Pentagon to hear New Mexico’s pitch today
Updated Dec 21, 2020;
Posted Dec 21, 2020
Chief Master Sgt. Roger Towberman (R), Space Force and Command Senior Enlisted Leader and CMSgt Roger Towberman (L), with Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett, present US President Donald Trump with the official flag of the United States Space Force in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on May 15, 2020. (Samuel Corum/Pool/Getty Images/TNS)Samuel Corum/Pool | Getty Images
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By Kevin Robinson-Avila Albuquerque Journal, N.M. (TNS) and Tribune Media Services
Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will lead a brigade of local officials and area experts today, Monday, in a virtual battle to persuade the Pentagon to locate the new U.S. Space Command in Albuquerque.
Space Command thrives in Colorado Springs. It operates in a perfect ecosystem that combines a qualified workforce, proximity to supporting entities, public safety, transportation and community support. A better environment is not possible, no matter how incessantly politicians try to take it from Colorado.
To move the command, the Pentagon would abandon billions of dollars in existing assets. It would disrupt this critical operation at a time when we have no time to waste in keeping up with foreign adversaries racing to dominate us militarily in space.
If federal officials act irresponsibly and move the command, we worry about our friends and neighbors who devote their lives to this critical component of national security. While all finalist locations are part of fine metropolitan areas, none is as stable for Space Command politically, geographically, culturally, and tactically as Colorado Springs. Consider each of the other finalists:
UNM Physics & Astronomy Interdisciplinary Science Facility
General Contractor: Bradbury Stamm Construction Inc.Architect: VHG Architects, EYP ArchitectureEngineers: Isaacson & Arfman, P.A.; Bridgers & Paxton; Chaves-Grieves Consulting Engineers
NAIOP’s signature award, designed to celebrate the projects that has had the most impact on the physical and economic development environment, was given this year to the University of New Mexico’s Physics & Astronomy Interdisciplinary Science Facility.
The new four-story, 139,000-square-foot research center near Central and Yale will house physics, astronomy and interdisciplinary sciences. The facility includes a number of types of laboratories, classrooms, an interior living room, offices and group spaces.
Amy Coburn, UNM’s university architect and director of planning, design and construction, oversaw the architectural and planning side of the project.