Throng turns out for racino presentation

Show up, they did.

More than 1,100 people crammed into the Tucumcari Convention Center's main ballroom Thursday afternoon to hear Coronado Partners principals and their supporters make their pitch to the New Mexico Racing Commission to award the sixth and final horse-racing license to Tucumcari. The license would lead to an $80 million horse-racing track and casino, called Coronado Park, that would employ 400 people.

Commission Chairman Ray Willis announced an official count of 1,140 people midway through the hearing. Warren Frost, a Logan attorney who is one of the frontmen for Coronado Partners, said Thursday's crowd was bigger than the one he saw during his group's hearing 10 years ago to land a racetrack license, which ultimately was awarded to Raton but never built.

Vehicles filled the convention center's parking lot more than 30 minutes before the hearing. The audience frequently applauded during presenters' pro-Tucumcari statements.

During the public-comment part of the hearing, more than 30 people spoke in support of the "racino" project. One spoke against it. Another speaker's stance on the racino was some of both.

Willis, who attended the Tucumcari hearing 10 years ago, said Thursday's crowd was "much bigger," and the investor group had "a much better presentation."

"What we have to do now is hear all aspects of the deal, hear everyone out, then we do our own investigation ... compare it with the presentation they did," Willis said. "Then we'll make a decision on whether the horsemen, the population will support another racetrack."

The commission also heard pitches from applicants in Clovis and Lordsburg for the license. Izzy Trejo, the commission's executive director, said it would award the license as soon as early November after Convergence Strategy Group of New Orleans studies the applications.

Trejo said the enthusiasm and support for the racino were "impressive."

"What I've enjoyed most about it is hearing from people on why they would like to see the racino in their community," he said.

The presentation

Tom Krumland, one of the principal investors in Coronado Partners and an owner of auto dealerships in Carlsbad and Roswell, presided over much of presentation.

Other investors are Frost, former Nevada gaming executive Larry Tombari; and Dianne Chalmers, widow of original Coronado organizer Don Chalmers, an Albuquerque car dealer who died in 2014.

Krumland said Coronado Park primarily would draw visitor dollars from the Texas Panhandle, which has no gaming. But he noted Tucumcari counts on Route 66 tourism, too.

"I thought the aliens were a big draw, but Route 66, it draws people from all over the world," he said of New Mexico tourism.

Coronado Park's general manager would be veteran horse-track executive David Vance, who ran Turfway Park in Kentucky and Remington Park in Oklahoma City.

Vance said Tucumcari lies more than 175 miles from any gaming site and is best-positioned not to overlap another casino's market.

"We're not going to hurt anybody, and they're not going to hurt us," he said.

Vance also said the region from Amarillo to Tucumcari contains 87,000 registered quarter horses.

"People who like horses, they like horse racing as a result of that," he said.

Vance noted the proposed site on 330 acres on Tucumcari's east side is bordered by Route 66 - "a wonderful tourism opportunity" - and Interstate 40, a major east-west artery that brings a "perpetual market."

Vance said Coronado Park would contain an amphitheater on the racetrack's infield for live concerts, plus an equine events center that would host rodeos and similar events.

Krumland said Coronado Park would generate an estimated $65 million in revenue, $12 million in purses and an $11 million payroll its first year. He estimated 80 percent of its business would come from Texas.

He said Clovis applicants face three competing racetracks and 1,500 slot machines competing against them. Lordsburg faces competition from 4,000 slot machines in Arizona. Because Tucumcari would face no competition - save for a planned casino in Guymon, Oklahoma - it "has the highest net benefit to the state of New Mexico" and "much greater benefits than the other applicants," he said.

Chris Erickson, senior economic analyst at New Mexico State University, said the Tucumcari racino's net economic impact would be $70 million in its first year and $80 million by year five. He said the project would create 560 jobs directly or indirectly its first two years.

Innovation Capital, a lender specializing in casinos based in El Segundo, California, would finance the project. Alex Wang said his company has financed more than 100 casino or racetrack deals totaling $6.8 billion since 2004.

Gaming manager would be Gary Buettner, who has run casinos in several states and Canada. He said one of his successes was Jumer's Casino in Rock Island, Illinois, which went from No. 3 in the region to No. 1 in revenue in 15 months. He said he would launch an incentives program that would draw bus tours and erect billboards containing information about promotions and races.

Turning to the audience, Buettner said: "I've been in gaming for 30 years. Usually we're not as well received as this."

The project's architects are the Friedmutter Group, based in Nevada, and the Dekker / Perich / Sabatini firm, with offices in Albuquerque and Las Cruces.

HB Construction of Albuquerque would oversee construction. It estimates the racino project would create 1,000 construction jobs, with half from the area.

Frost said tourism from Route 66 "is an incredible value," and the New Mexico Route 66 Museum would be moved from the convention center to a space at the racino three to four times bigger.

Frost said Conchas Lake and Ute Lake draw almost 600,000 visitors annually - another source of tourism to the racino.

He noted the three Clovis applicants have placed racino sites outside city limits in Curry County, which prohibits alcohol sales. He said Clovis would have to annex it to allow alcohol sales or have residents vote to change the county from "dry" to "wet."

"It's a risk," Frost said.

Frost said another problem Clovis applicants face is depletion of its water supply. He said the Ogallala Aquifer that supplies the Clovis area has only a 13- to 20-year life span, and 80,000 gallons a day typically are needed at racetracks. He said the three aquifers that supply Tucumcari's water face no such supply issues.

Public comments

The public-comment portion began with a stream of 21 officials from Tucumcari, Logan, San Jon, Conchas Lake and Quay County who spoke in favor of Tucumcari getting the horse-racing license. Most of those supporters came from the education, fire protection, law enforcement, health care, agriculture and tourism fields.

Patrick Vanderpool, director of the Tucumcari Economic Development Commission, said Quay County is one of two counties in New Mexico certified as ACT Work Ready, indicating a well-qualified workforce for the racetrack.

District Attorney Tim Rose expressed confidence in law enforcement's ability to handle new challenges from a racino.

Aaron McKinney, Tucumcari schools superintendent, said the district can accommodate an influx of new families a racino might bring, noting its buildings are designed to handle more than 750 additional students.

Terry Schleizer, San Jon's mayor pro tem, said she observed that day a honeymooning couple from Spain and tourists from Scotland visiting the New Mexico Route 66 Museum. She said the racino's studies did not take into account international tourists on Route 66.

"Y'all need to look at the net economic income from the world," she told the commission.

Michael Williamson, who runs Holiday Conoco on Tucumcari's east end, presented the commission a "traffic study" document of license plates he recorded from dozens of states at his gas station.

"Clovis will be only New Mexico and Texas plates," he said. "Look at all of those plates and all of the people who would enjoy Tucumcari."

Gary Balzano, a Tucumcari dentist who raises thoroughbreds, said awarding the license to Tucumcari should boost small thoroughbred breeders and help reverse that industry's decline in the state.

Joel Wolfson of Amarillo said traffic-count estimates of 16,000 vehicles daily on Interstate 40 in Tucumcari seemed low, noting he's heard "from reliable sources" it handles 50,000 vehicles a day in Amarillo. Wolfson said he'd be happy to drive to Tucumcari and spend money at its racino.

"I'm not going to drive to Clovis," he said.

Support for the racino wasn't universal. Mark Morgan of Tucumcari said residents are too preoccupied with new jobs and money, and "we need to consider the spiritual perspective" and "a negative side we all need to be aware of."

Citing the adage "the love of money is the root of all evil," Morgan said: "We need to be very careful about introducing the root of all evil to our backyard. I'm wondering how much prayer has been brought into this and how much has been lifted up to the Lord."

Morgan's remarks were met with some polite applause, a few boos and at least one "Amen."

John Barrett, pastor of the Center Street United Methodist Church in Tucumcari, said any new racino should pay for new police officers and staff to handle gambling addiction and crimes linked to it.

But Barrett said Coronado Partners giving up to 5 percent of its revenue to municipalities would pay for such officers, and residents earning more income would bring more money into churches so they could hire counselors.