funding for santa fe independent living project delayed

Plans for the construction of 68-unit senior center in Santa Fe may be forestalled for the time being until some $80 million in funding is finally secured.

 The non-profit retirement community El Castillo has long been interested in purchasing land at the intersection of Old Taos Highway and Paseo de Peralta to build the new center.

But although the project has been declared as eligible for industrial revenue bond funding, members of the Santa Fe City Council’s Finance Committee have decided to hold off on granting that funding for the time being.

That decision was based on a need to learn more information about the project, including its likely economic impact in the city.  

As envisioned, the project would see the construction of a more than 200,000 square foot building that would also include a dining room, kitchen fitness center, and interior courtyards.

The Old Taos Highway site in question is the former home of the Presbyterian Church retreat center known as the Ghost Ranch.

A federally-recognized continuing care retirement community based in downtown Santa Fe, El Castillo was opened in 1971 and features 186 individual units, 23 of which are designed as assisted living, with eleven categorized as memory support.

In order to award the industrial revenue bonds for the project, the Finance Committee is required to approve an ordinance authorizing the issuance and sale of those bonds.

The committee is expected to take up the question again during its upcoming August 19 meeting.

By Garry Boulard

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