Television network moving to Tucumcari
CLOVIS — The Fast TV Network announced last week it will move from Albuquerque into the vacant Kmart building in Tucumcari that will be home to a television and movie production facility, a New Mexico Route 66 museum and welcome center.
In all, the $8 million project eventually will create between 30 and 70 jobs after its soft opening July 1, said Mike Lee, Fast TV’s president and CEO, during a briefing Wednesday inside the Tucumcari Railroad Depot.
Johnnie Meier, owner of Classical Gas in Embudo in Northern New Mexico, also announced he would move the contents of his museum containing gas station and neon-sign memorabilia inside the Kmart building, along with an operational Valentine diner.
Lee said his company is under contract to close on the purchase of the property at that time. He projected the facility would generate $300 million in revenue over 10 years.
Lee said if the facility draws movie productions as expected, it will create another 30 to 250 jobs, depending on the film’s budget.
The crowd of about 30 people, many of them city or county officials or business owners, applauded the news.
“This is a monumental day for Tucumcari,” said Connie Loveland, the city’s MainStreet director.
Lee said part of the 42,000-squarefoot building will be used for two sound stages, film- and video-editing bays and audio studios.
Fast TV Network produces original shows about racing, road trips and Route 66 for online and streaming platforms.
Its Tucumcari Rising program, one of several shot in the city, has attained 31 million views, Lee said.
Meier said he would like to see a merger of the current collection of the New Mexico Route 66 Museum inside one wing of the Tucumcari Convention Center, but he indicated negotiations are ongoing.
City officials long have wanted the Route 66 museum moved because it prevents more rentals of the convention center.
Melissa Beasley-Lee, president of the New Mexico Route 66 Association and the wife of Mike Lee, said the nonprofit plans to move there.
The Kmart store in Tucumcari closed in April 2018.