Alamogordo's Rocket City slated to open Dec. 14
ALAMOGORDO – The Rocket City Family Fun Center (RCFFC) will have a soft opening on Dec. 14 then have its grand opening Jan. 4, according to a Downtown Venture Corp. press release.
Downtown Venture Corp. is overseeing construction upgrades to the facility and management of Rocket City.
In the release, Downtown Venture Corp. spokeswoman Laura Kim wrote it has been a long journey for us since taking on the project and we could not have gone this far without all the positive support from the community.
In the release, Kim stated the final phases of construction are currently in progress. Work on the kitchen, bar, and walk-in coolers is underway, as is work on the locker room, outside dry goods storage, office spaces and event rooms, she wrote.
The construction is being undertaken by National Construction, which was brought in to rework aspects of the building that were not included in the original plans for the RCFFC.
The City of Alamogordo provided Downtown Venture Corp. with $1.5 million in LEDA funds in August 2017 to make upgrades to the facility.
In the release Kim wrote construction is taking place now for improvements needed for effective operations. Some areas are upgrades and some areas were missing from the initial construction, she stated.
More:Fun Center getting full service kitchen
Downtown Venture Corp. began the hiring process in late October. The company is slated to begin management training on Nov. 19 while conducting training for all other positions Nov. 26.
Rocket City will have a staff of about 50 people when hiring is over, Kim wrote in the release.
The facility's liquor license application was submitted this week, City Manager Maggie Paluch said at the Nov. 6 City Commission meeting.
The next steps before opening will be inspection by New Mexico’s Construction Industries Division (CID). Inspections have been ongoing as different aspects of the construction are completed, but there is no specific date those are scheduled to be completed, Kim wrote in the release.
She stated we will do our best to keep the target date as mentioned.
The only delay may be caused due to the inspection and process. We are collaborating with the CID department and the inspectors to promptly resolve any issues that may arise, KIm wrote in the release.
A bond measure approving the project was voted down by Alamogordo residents then approved two years later by voters for a family fun center. Construction began in December 2016, with City officials selecting Downtown Venture Corp. and its President Jay Chun to manage the facility in August 2017.
In September 2018, the New Mexico State Auditor's Office sent a 12-page letter to Alamogordo city officials outlining alleged violations of state and city statutes throughout the development of Rocket City.
More:State Auditor: Alamogordo allegedly violated rules in Family Fun Center development
However, State Auditor Wayne Johnson said there wasn’t any indication fraud or deliberate violations had taken place. The situation did bring to light some questions about City policy, but Johnson said the State Auditor does not make any determination about what policy should be.
“If we saw intent to defraud, we would have referred that to the attorney general, law enforcement, or the local district attorney,” Johnson said. “We did not see any kind of intent. What we did see was chaos. The procurement was chaotic, to say the least. They stumbled along, did what they did, and now they have a building with a contractor in there that’s set to open. That’s where we are.”
Johnson’s goal with the letter was not punitive but rather to make the City aware of mistakes that had been made, he said.
“Obviously my objective with the Family Fun Center review was to make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” Johnson said. “There were problems they needed to be aware of. Some of it was created by the long timeframe, some of it was probably ignorance of state laws and the changes and the requirements of LEDA, for example.”
City officials issued a press release in early October outlining “steps to ensure taxpayer money is safeguarded and the citizens are served best,” including reviewing the ways in which the City undertakes construction projects, reviewing local LEDA ordinances, and drafting an ordinance that clarifies how LEDA dollars can be spent.
Alamogordo City Attorney Petria Schreiber said the experience with Rocket City will be helpful in shaping how the City undertakes projects in the future.
“We are using it as an opportunity to look back at the project, review the decisions that were made along the way, and to see what could have been done better for the future,” Schreiber said. “We’re doing a comprehensive review of the procurement ordinances. We don’t necessarily agree with all of the findings and how they came about, I think everyone knows that, but we are going to take it in the spirit it was intended by Mr. Johnson and take a look.”
She said she is looking forward to Rocket City finally opening.
“The good news is that it’s going to be amazing when it opens. It’s a beautiful facility and it will be very good for everyone when it opens,” Schreiber said. “We have confidence in Mr. Chun’s direction and his decisions.”
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