santa fe retirement community construction plans advance

Plans remain in the development stage for the building of a retirement community in Santa Fe that will go up on a 2.5-acre site at 401 Old Taos Highway just slightly north of downtown Santa Fe.

El Castillo, a long-standing downtown Santa Fe retirement community, wants to build a 204,000 square-foot, 3-story structure that would have enough space to house up to 73 individual units.

The project would be designed in a traditional Spanish Pueblo Revival style and would include a fitness center, dining room, kitchen and three interior courtyards.

The project is expected to cost around $37 million to build.

To get to the construction phase, El Castillo still needs to secure the approval of the city’s Historic Districts Review Board for proposing a structure that will be 13 feet taller than the allowed area maximum of 23 feet, 10 inches.

A memo written by a City of Santa Fe historic planner for the board states that the project’s third floor is “essential for the required living unit count to serve the demand for downtown housing,” adding that if the project should be restricted to just two floors, “the proposed development would not be economically viable and the project would not move forward.”

The Old Taos Highway site is the former home of what was known as the Ghost Ranch, a one-time Presbyterian Church retreat center.

By Garry Boulard