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CITE—The Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation
On May 8th, Pegasus Global Holdings LLC announced that they will be building a 15-square-mile ghost town west of Hobbs. The Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation, or CITE, will test things like driverless cars and intelligent washing machines in an environment identical, other than the absence of people, to a mid-sized American city.
To be completed in 2013, the project will require 1,500 construction workers in its initial phase of development, and will employ 350 people when fully operational, with supporting businesses expected to eventually employ 3,500 more people.
Based in Washington D.C., Pegasus considered 16 New Mexico communities in addition to looking at California, Texas, Montana and Virginia before choosing the Hobbs area. Albuquerque and Las Cruces were among the finalists, but the isolated land CITE requires was readily available and affordable in Lea County. CITE’s exact location will depend on negotiations with landowners.