Visitors to the new center spend the night in a 375room hotel and conference center in the new development and eat at new restaurants, including a brew pub, an eatery similar to Panera Bread and coffee shops similar to Starbucks or Dutch Brothers, Schnepf said. Retail shops that could house a cell phone provider and package shipping store could also move in.

Cyber security and other Department of Defense contractors may also be permanently housed within the new development in a new secure office space, he said. The workers are expected to collaborate with cadets at the new Madera Cyber Innovation Center, a new thinktank under construction at the school that will focus on solving military problems.

The academy supports the potential internship opportunities and exposure to real-world problem solving cadets could gain, Cruz-gonzalez said.

The expansive vision needs about $310 million in bonds expected to go up for sale in September, Schnepf said. The visitor center and infrastructure will require $90 million in bonds, and the hotel and conference center will need the rest, he said.

The bonds were initially slated for sale in March 2020, around the time the bond market collapsed because of the coronavirus. The bond sales have been delayed a few times since and were recently slated to be sold in June, the Gazette reported earlier this year.

Schnepf expects the bonds will be well received by the market based on similar sales for hotels that have drawn more buyers than bonds available, he said.

The bonded debt will be paid back in part using new taxes generated by the project, which will be substantial because the green-field site is currently owned by the Air Force Academy, a military property that does not pay taxes, he said. The debt must be paid back in 30 to 35 years depending on the terms of the bond, but Schnepf expects it could happen much faster.

Once the bonds sell, infrastructure construction could start in October followed by work on the hotel and convention center in December because it is expected to generate the majority of the revenue to pay off the bonds, Cope said. Visitor center construction is expected to start in March, he said.

Provident Resources Group, a Louisiana-based nonprofit, is going to build the new hotel and conference center with tax-exempt bonds, said Steve Hicks, chief executive officer and board chairman previously. The project qualifies for tax-exempt bonds because it will drive tax revenue and serve a public benefit, he said.

The whole campus is expected to directly employ 900 people including office workers and indirectly provide jobs for 260 more through contracts and jobs created by employee spending, Cope said.

Over 25 years, the economic impact of the project could be $2.6 billion or about $104 million a year, he said.

The newly developed land will be controlled by Blue & Silver Development Partners, which holds a 50-year lease with the academy for the area and will sublease it out to others, such as Provident Development Group and other companies, Schnepf said.

As part of the agreement, the development group is building the $32 million visitor center for the academy as in-kind payment, Cruz-gonzalez said. The length of the agreement spanning half a century is needed to make the project financially viable, and over time Schnepf’s company could build out an additional 15 acres.

The visitor center is planned to revert back to academy ownership in June of 2023, and the staff will start installing exhibits and preparing it for its opening in December 2023, Schnepf said.