New Mexico is planning a model town that will be inhabited by scientists



Outside the United States, the soon-to-be-former Syfy show is known as “A Town Called Eureka.” But now there really could be a town of “Eureka” … in New Mexico.

Bob Brumley, the chief executive officer of Pegasus Global Holdings, said he wants to build a $200 million town on 20 square miles of land that he will call “The Center.” It will be the model of a future city, completely self-sustaining with environmentally friendly technology, according to The Washington Post. And, it will even be used as a place for scientists to live, experiment and test their innovations.

No word yet on if Syfy is planning a reality series there.

“The idea for The Center was born out of our own company’s challenges in trying to test new and emerging technologies beyond the confines of a sterile lab environment,” Brumley told the newspaper. “The Center will allow private companies, not-for-profits, educational institutions and government agencies to test in a unique facility with real world infrastructure, allowing them to better understand the cost and potential limitations of new technologies prior to introduction.”

The 10-year-old company has offices in Washington, D.C.; Reston, Va.,; and London. It bills itself as a leader in telecommunications and provides defense technologies to the U.S. government. The intellectual property it creates is sourced through its British parent, Perseus Global Ltd.

Creating a master-planned town is not a new concept. In fact, Washington, D.C., itself was master-planned, and designed to be a federal government center. Also, Walt Disney had dreams of creating a city of the future, which he wanted to call “EPCOT.” That name was later used for a DisneyWorld theme park in Florida, but Celebration — a town bordering the theme park — was master-planned, inspired by the original vision of Disney for EPCOT.

A final site hasn’t been chosen yet for The Center, but New Mexico’s governor is working rather closely with Pegasus Global to finalize the deal and get construction underway.

New Mexico itself is like its own little Eureka already, a center for scientific research in the United States and world.

Even if the town does get built, that won’t get interest going in “Eureka” again. That show, once Syfy’s highest-rated scripted program, will bow out after five seasons early next year.