The 20,500-square-foot entertainment complex at 302 South Main Street in downtown Las Cruces has sat mostly empty since January 2025, and city leaders are now weighing roughly $1.1 million in repairs to bring it back to life in phases. The Las Cruces City Council took up the long-vacant Amador Live property during a work session this past Monday, but stopped short of approving any spending or signing a single tenant.
A Phased Plan With No Firm Timeline
According to a report from Organ Mountain News, the city is proposing approximately $1.1 million in repairs to address building-code deficiencies, deferred maintenance and unfinished portions of the complex — including roofing, stucco, windows, doors, plumbing and electrical systems. The plan would keep Amador Live under municipal control while the city restores the facility and works to recruit individual tenants, rather than handing the property off to a single master developer. Visit Las Cruces would initially manage community programming and private event rentals, starting with the venue's outdoor areas, the outlet reported.
City officials said they'd fielded inquiries from businesses interested in individual spaces inside Amador Live, but no tenants have been selected and no full-occupancy timeline has been set. No formal approval of the $1.1 million repair expenditure occurred during Monday's session, the same report noted — meaning the plan remains a proposal rather than a funded project.
Why The City Is Trying A Different Approach
This isn't the city's first attempt to find someone else to run the place. An earlier effort to recruit a single operator or master developer for the entire property drew only two responses, and per Organ Mountain News, neither met the city's needs. Staff from Economic Development, Visit Las Cruces, Public Works and Community Development have since explored other possibilities for the site, aiming for an approach that would let the property be used again right away while building toward something more sustainable long-term, according to the same outlet.
Amador Live isn't unfamiliar territory for Visit Las Cruces — the organization already manages the city-owned Rio Grande Theatre, a 393-seat venue originally built as a movie house in 1926 that reopened in 2005 after a $2.2 million renovation, according to the Rio Grande Theatre.
How The Entertainment Complex Went Dark
Amador Live opened in 2019 with four separate venues: the Amador Patio & Bar, Broken Spoke Taphouse, Jax Rooftop Bar and Club 575 Cruces Crafted Cocktails. The complex permanently closed in January 2025, with Amador Hospitality CEO Max Bower citing the pandemic, labor shortages, inflation and a drop in discretionary income as the forces that sank the business, according to KVIA. Bower told the station at the time that the facility still had plenty of potential for other uses without major changes.
Since the closure, the facility has been vacant for roughly 21 months except for occasional city events, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's republication of a report from the Las Cruces Sun-News, written by Jason Groves. Those occasional uses have included municipal league and police athletic league events, per the same report.
What Officials Said At The Table
Mayor Eric Enriquez said the work session marked a first step, noting the city had agreed to keep the facility's operations internal rather than ceding it to an outside operator, according to the Star-Telegram's account. Mayor Pro Tem John Munoz said he wanted to see more concrete plans, progress and partnerships before the project could truly move forward, the paper reported.
Economic Development Director Elizabeth Teeters said there isn't much interest in leasing or buying the entire property as a single package, but that people have expressed interest in renting it for events or taking on individual spaces. Teeters said she believes individual tenants would be the best approach once renovations are complete, and that the city's partners bring the experience and outside connections needed to find suitable occupants, per the Star-Telegram.
District 1 Councilor Cassie McClure said she hoped to hear directly from community partners and suggested scheduling another work session to keep the conversation going, according to the same report. Interim Assistant City Manager David Sedillo and Visit Las Cruces Director Rochelle Miller-Hernandez were also involved in shaping the proposal, the Star-Telegram reported.
What's Planned For The Property
Under the city's short-term plans, Amador Live would host holiday pop-up markets and Sunday food truck events before large-scale events become available for rent after the new year. The maintenance and repairs — covering external doors and windows along with interior electrical and plumbing work — would be completed in phases and paid for out of the city's tax increment development district funds, according to the Star-Telegram's reporting. Longer term, the city plans to renovate the facility and eventually fill its spaces with restaurants and bars.
The $6.5 million Amador Live project was originally funded through a public-private partnership with the city, with Amador Hospitality holding an initial 10-year lease agreement. At Monday's discussion, the council agreed to retain internal control of the property and directed staff to seek local partners and begin repairs, though it did not formally approve repair spending. Tenant recruitment and the reopening timeline remain unresolved.
