April 9, 2008
Albuquerque Journal
Don Chalmers Team 3rd to Make Racino Bid
By Jeff Jones, Journal Staff WriterThe number of competitors seeking what could be the last racino to be built in New Mexico for decades has officially grown to three.
A team headed by New Mexico auto dealer Don Chalmers has filed an application with state horse-racing regulators to build a track and 600-slot casino in Tucumcari.
The team, Coronado Partners LLC, also has acquired options on 245 acres of land off Interstate 40 inside the limits of the city on New Mexico's east side, the team announced in a written statement after filing the state application Friday.
"I am very excited to bring this project to Quay County," Chalmers said in the statement. "Certainly this area needs investment and jobs, and we think that this project, more than any other, will enhance racing in the state."
The cost of the racino proposal was originally pegged at $40 million, but Chalmers said in a brief Journal telephone interview Tuesday that the price tag is now closer to $50 million.
Turning the proposed track from a stack of plans into an actual grandstand and slot palace would require approval from the state Racing Commission and state Gaming Control Board.
Gaming compacts that extend through the year 2037 between the state and New Mexico Indian tribes cap the number of private racinos at six— one more than the current number of operating tracks located at Albuquerque, Farmington, Sunland Park, Hobbs and Ruidoso.
Chalmers' Tucumcari track application will compete for the sixth and final racino slot with Pojoaque Pueblo, which has applied to reopen the Downs at Santa Fe, and another group which aims to build a racino in Raton.
The Coronado Partners statement said that the group envisions hiring 300 full-time employees to run a Tucumcari racino, adding it would partner with Mesalands Community College to develop work force training for racing and gaming.
"We feel like our application is going to be very strong," Chalmers said Tuesday. "It helps rural New Mexico in a terrific way."