Artesia, New Mexico, celebrated the grand opening of a new $40 million recreation center this week, giving the small southeastern New Mexico town a 50,000-square-foot complex at 603 Bowman Dr. to replace a recreation building that had stood since the 1970s. The new facility will be open daily from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and includes a walking track, weight room, cardio equipment, two group fitness studios, playground equipment, childcare facilities, an outdoor area, and three courts.
According to KTSM 9 News, the courts support basketball, volleyball, and pickleball, and many of the center's amenities are free to the public, including the courts, walking track, and outdoor play area. Fitness equipment and the group studios, however, require a membership to access. The center sits over three hours northeast of El Paso and broke ground in October 2024.
A Building the Old Center Could Never Be
The recreation center it replaces was a 23,000-square-foot building that lacked natural lighting and outdoor activity space, limitations that had long restricted what kinds of programs the city could offer, according to Focus Artesia. The new complex more than doubles that floor area. Rather than being torn down, the old building will be repurposed as a rental space for dances, birthday parties, and vendor markets, per the station's report.
Sandra Borges, president of the Artesia Recreation Center Foundation board, said the project reflects the community's priorities. “Quality of life is part of building a community where people want to raise their families,” Borges said, according to KTSM 9 News. She added that the building exists because the community deserves the very best.
Who Actually Paid for a $40 Million Facility
The project came together through a public-private partnership, with the Artesia City Council confirming a $2 million municipal funding commitment under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Artesia Recreation Center Foundation, according to the City of Artesia. Private funding made up the majority of the remaining costs, contributed by a coalition of regional organizations including the PY Foundation, Chase Foundation, TLC Foundation, Frank Yates Jr. Family Foundation, Western Bank, First American Bank, Royal Services, and Devon Energy, as announced by general contractor Jaynes Corporation at the October 2024 groundbreaking.
The Artesia Recreation Center Foundation, established in 2023, recorded $14.99 million in total revenues in fiscal year 2025 and amassed over $21.2 million in total assets to fund planning and construction, according to IRS filings reviewed by Cause IQ. The foundation alone received $14.92 million in grants and contributions in 2025. In January 2024, the Artesia City Council had approved a subrecipient agreement with the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration under the state's Regional Recreation Center Quality of Life Program, providing part of the state-level funding framework behind the project, per the City of Artesia.
Built to Limit Cost Overruns
Jaynes Corporation, the same contractor that previously built the adjacent Artesia Aquatic Center, Artesia General Hospital, and the public library, used the Construction Management at Risk delivery model on the recreation center. That approach had the contractor manage pre-construction cost analysis, scheduling, and subcontractor procurement across 18 months of planning before crews broke ground, allowing the foundation and city to lock in budget reviews ahead of construction, Jaynes Corporation says.
The new center sits adjacent to the Artesia Aquatic Center, creating a centralized municipal sports and wellness campus on Bowman Drive. Day-to-day operations, event scheduling, and programming will be handled not by the city itself but by The Sports Facilities Companies, a national venue management firm that operates more than 40 sports and wellness facilities across 17 states.
Health Screenings and a Young Population
Beyond courts and cardio machines, the center incorporates preventative health services, hosting vision and blood pressure screenings and mental health resources in partnership with Artesia General Hospital and the Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine, Focus Artesia reported. Planners designed the facility around four pillars: health, wellness, outreach, and community life.
That health-focused design lines up with the city's demographics. Artesia had a population of 12,875 at the 2020 census, with youth under 18 years old making up 31.3% of residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. With nearly a third of the town under 18, the center's youth leagues and childcare facilities stand to serve a substantial share of the local population for years to come.
