Unwise Scheme Hijacks Our Wheels Museum

Opinion - Albuquerque Journal

Saturday July 26, 2003

Our Wheels Museum
In three short years, the wheels have fallen off. ¿Que pas¢?

In 2000, Downtown businesswoman Leba Freed and a group of like-minded preservationists saved the old Santa Fe Railway shops from being torn down. They wanted to preserve the historic Downtown property and use part of it for a Wheels Museum dedicated to historic Route 66, trains, cars and airplanes.

It was a good cause and a good fit. So good, in fact, that Freed and company raised about $500,000 in public money and private donations. A nonprofit organization Freed had formed earlier, the Urban Council, took title to the property and a group of underwriters took on a $2.5 million note.

Then things headed down the wrong track.

A split developed on the Urban Council. Freed and her allies were forced out after Ohio consultant Frank Conaway was hired to head up the project. Conaway's vision for the property was far different: a $260 million expo center that would compete with San Antonio, Denver and Phoenix -- not to mention with Albuquerque's anemic convention center just up the street.

To say the potential success of that project -- which would spill over the 27-acre site -- is questionable would be an understatement, especially since the relationship between the Wheels faction headed by Freed and the Urban Council group headed by Conaway and Board president Ron Ashcraft has completely deteriorated. The Wheels people say their pet project isn't even included in the development.

Meanwhile, the Urban Council is $400,000 in debt and the underwriters are trying to sell their interest to another Ohioan, developer Rick Moran. Asked what the Wheels faction has to show for its $500,000 contribution, the Urban Council says "zero."

Mediation between the two groups has failed. Mayor Martin Chávez says the city won't be involved in Conaway's plans unless the Wheels Museum is an integral part of it.

So, where are we?

It appears Albuquerque wanted -- and still wants -- a Wheels Museum at the old railyard. It wants the historic buildings preserved if questions can be answered on whether that can be done for a reasonable price. There are questions whether the buildings can be brought up to modern fire and safety codes at reasonable expense and still retain the historic ambience.

It seems a lot less certain that residents want, or need, a high-risk "exposition center."

But this is too important a piece of Albuquerque's history to have it decided by default -- which almost happened before Freed and her group stepped in. The city needs to work with the parties, consult with the people trying to bring back Downtown and help map out a reasonable preservation/development plan.