Notes from the May 24, 2007 Regents Meeting

by George Zamora

SOCORRO, N.M., May 24, 2007 – The New Mexico Tech Board of Regents, meeting in a special telephone conference on Tuesday, May 22, approved the assignment of its current 50-year lease agreement with the U.S. Air Force to the New Mexico Tech Research Park Corporation.

Under the terms of the resolution passed by the university’s governing board, and under the terms of the original lease, the New Mexico Tech Research Park Corporation will take over development and utilization of 8.3 acres within the Kirtland Technology Park, located on the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, near the intersection of Gibson and Carlisle boulevards.

In 2005, New Mexico Tech signed a unique lease agreement forged between the research university and the air force base, which was made possible through the first-ever Enhanced Use Lease (EUL) to be implemented by the U.S. Air Force.

EUL agreements currently are regulated under a provision of federal law that allows underutilized U.S. Department of Defense installations to lease out property to public and private entities to build and operate educational and research facilities.

The EUL agreement between New Mexico Tech and Kirtland Air Force Base provides for both government and university facilities to be located within a planned education and research complex, allowing university researchers, faculty, and students easier access to and collaborations with the adjacent Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the nearby Sandia National Laboratories.

Long-range plans being developed for the newly assigned lease agreement, which was initially forged by New Mexico Tech administrators and Kirtland Air Force Base officials, call for a private entity to eventually design and build an education and research complex at the Kirtland Technology Park.

As part of the EUL agreement, New Mexico Tech and the Air Force Research Laboratory will each receive a portion of the floor space inside the complex on a 10 percent basis.