NEW SOUTHWEST AIR & SPACE FLIGHT MUSEUM: new aviation & space museum

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Las Vegas--Numerous Advantages

While potential sites like Moffett and Alameda in the San Francisco Bay Area will have to contend with rising sea levels (we are taking a 100 year plus view for a museum), Las Vegas will have the opposite problem. Fortunately, a museum is not a big water user. The other major issue in both the Bay Area and the LA/Orange County areas, no surprise here, is the value of real estate. As a result, developers have already taken over former military bases for housing, light commercial use, parks, etc. The Las Vegas/Henderson area still has potential sites available, although locations near an airport are disappearing rapidly. The prospect of a high-speed rail link to SoCal is also improving and will bring in additional visitors. Read more in an article published December 29th in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The web site is: https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/tourism/californian-pushing-aviation-museum-in-southwest-maybe-nevada/

What About Phoenix? San Diego?

As the number of visitors to the greater Phoenix area is only about one-third that of Las Vegas, it is not included in the top three areas recommended to be studied for a new museum. Also, Tucson already has a number of fine air and space museums.

If you are making a day trip from the Los Angeles/Orange County area to San Diego, you are probably going to Sea World or the zoo and not the air and space museum. As far as overnight visitors, the numbers are about the same as for Phoenix, so San Diego is not included in the top three areas recommended to be studied for a new museum. The Gillespie Field Annex provides much needed space but, unfortunately, is a bit far from the action for most tourists.