On Oct. 24, the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce held its Board of Directors meeting at Netflix.
During the meeting, the board heard a budget presentation from GACC Treasurer Kellie Mixon, and briefings from Scott Hindman, Public Safety BIG Chair, Paul Madrid, Education BIGÂ vice chair, and Del Esparza, who covered the Downtown Transformation BIG, on priorities in each area for the coming year.
As in previous years, the Chamber will use its three BIGs to focus on strategic change, including cracking down on public safety threats such as repeat offenders and fentanyl trafficking, encouraging public charter school growth and ABQ Reads, as well as completing the Albuquerque Rail Trail and launching Downtown’s Business Improvement District (BID) and the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) for Downtown redevelopment projects.
With business concluded, the Board then heard from Amanda Scarano, senior manager of Netflix studio operations, who talked about Netflix’s most recent expansion, which was unveiled in June.
The expansion includes four new soundstages, three mills (manufacturing areas for sets and such), one production office and two stage supporting buildings.
The expanded studio, situated on108 acres, will feature sustainability initiatives like solar power, geothermal heating and electric vehicle chargers to reduce its carbon footprint. The company has also built a 20-acre solar farm that is right off the lot; the switchgear infrastructure is expected to be in place in the first quarter of 2025.
She explained with this in place, the studio will be able to generate five megawatts of solar power.
Scarano then took Board members on a short tour, which included a stop at a mill and a screening room.