Albuquerque drops out of the Orion Center satellite manufacturing facility, more than 1000 jobs

ALBUQUERQUE, NM (KRQE) – The huge satellite contract Mayor Tim Keller celebrated as a game changer for Albuquerque is dead in the water. The Washington DC-based company was to build a sprawling campus next to the Albuquerque International Sunport.

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The busy Orion Center, where the company planned to build satellites, would be on Girard Blvd. and Gibson Boulevard. The city of Albuquerque says the deal is dead. Albuquerque Mayor Keller said a year ago, “If this actually goes as the company intends, this will be a transformative project for central New Mexico.”

Theia Corporation was to break the ground at the Orion Center this year and employ more than a thousand workers in a year and a half. The 116-acre area would include a satellite construction facility, research and test facility, offices, a gym, a food hall, a hotel and a seven-story parking garage.

A New York investment firm that has invested at least $ 200 million in Theia Group is suing the startup. They are demanding their money back, claiming the Theia Group did nothing to get their business off the ground.

According to federal documents, a Manhattan judge has placed Theia Group under bankruptcy administration, meaning an outsider will now run the company with the aim of repaying its lenders. The only real benefit to Theia Group is their FCC license to launch and operate satellites, which is worth a fortune. Without them, Theia Group would be broken.

Even when the mayor announced last year that he was coming to Albuquerque, he hedged his bets a bit. “This project is such a big deal that we didn’t want to talk about it as much because we really don’t want to bewitch it. We hope this will happen. We believe it will happen. It’s going to be very, very real, ”said Keller.

Theia Group wanted to launch 112 earth-forming satellites to form a network around the globe.

The city of Albuquerque made the following statement:

We are constantly looking for opportunities to create great jobs in Albuquerque and the Sunport is a key driver of job development and creation. As a result of the recent litigation involving TGI, Sunport has decided not to pursue this potential lease and we are now evaluating new potential development opportunities for this property. When examining this lease, the city did not offer TGI any incentives for economic development.

City of Albuquerque