sa国际传媒官网网页入口

Caution tape outlines the area where scaffolding is in place as construction continues at the future film training center at the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Rail Yards.

On Tuesday, Mayor Tim Keller and Central New Mexico Community College President Tracy Hartzler led a walkthrough on how the multiyear project is going.

鈥淎s you can see, there鈥檚 a lot of work happening,鈥� Keller said. 鈥淭his is the beginning of something really special. It鈥檚 going to be a building within a building.鈥�

The project is a partnership between the city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口, CNM and the New Mexico Economic Development Department.

The iconic Boiler Shop building at the Rail Yards, once used to transfer heavy parts to train engines, is being transformed into a state-of-the-art training hub for future filmmakers, creating a workforce development pipeline for the state鈥檚 booming film industry and contributing to economic revitalization for Downtown sa国际传媒官网网页入口.

Seven years ago, Keller said, the entire building was under a master planning contract, and the city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 was taking control over the area. The first goal: make the buildings remotely usable.

Then CNM came into the talks as its film program was growing and needed a permanent place to grow into.

With the master plan being developed, the city and CNM began a partnership to bring the area alive once again.

鈥淭his (Rail Yards) project is basically 40 years old,鈥� Keller said. 鈥淚鈥檓 the fifth or sixth mayor to work on this project. But this is going to be the first time that this facility is going to be used more or less every day. Every day, there will be hundreds of students that will come here. That activity is going to lift up the area around us, including this edge of Downtown.鈥�

CNM鈥檚 longstanding Film Production and Digital Media programs, as well as the New Mexico Media Arts Collective, will co-locate and share equipment and training resources.

The facility is expected to be completed in late 2025, with the first classes taking place in January 2026.

According to officials, each decision made for construction has to be approved by the Historic Preservation Board before moving forward.

鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to reach another important milestone as we make progress on the public鈥檚 investment in growing the film industry in New Mexico and supporting economic development in Downtown sa国际传媒官网网页入口,鈥� Hartzler said. 鈥淭his state-of-the-art facility is going to increase access for New Mexicans to get high-quality film production training and begin careers that will help our film industry continue to thrive.鈥�

Hartzler said the facility will offer industry-standard, hands-on and craft-specific workforce training and job competencies for the film, television and digital media industry.

Along with soundstages, there will be classrooms, offices, and post-production and flex spaces, featuring the latest equipment and technology.

鈥淭he plan is to have community programming and a place for films to be screened,鈥� Hartzler said.

Voters approved bond funding for CNM to improve and expand its film production training facilities.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, with support from the Legislature and the city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口, has also allocated funding to build facilities and training programs.

Keller said the construction of the film facilities represents one-third of the area.

鈥淭his is such a big project,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen we finish this, we鈥檙e going to have roughly a third of the Rail Yards kind of figured out. We know what we鈥檙e doing with it. There are still two-thirds on the other end, and it remains to be seen what will go there. Right now, there are no plans for any of that. We鈥檙e focusing on delivering this one-third of the property.鈥�