Officials from the state and Virgin Galactic will announce Monday that they have reached an agreement on the framework of a lease of the Spaceport America facility to be constructed northeast of
The announcement will be made at 3:30 p.m. at the university club in the
New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans said Thursday night that negotiations were underway and a deal on a memorandum of understanding that would set the terms of a lease could be reached within days.
Apparently, the deal has been reached. It’s not clear if officials will sign the memorandum at the event or simply announce that they’ve reached an agreement. Homans doesn’t expect the actual lease to be signed for a couple of months.
Details of the deal, which have not been released, have already been approved by the company’s board of directors.
Officials worked hard to reach a deal they could announce in advance of the April 3 election in Doña Ana County on whether to raise the gross receipts tax 1/4 percent to help fund the spaceport. Spaceport tax opponents have criticized the fact that a deal wasn’t in place.