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Tom Ford Protects His New Mexico Ranch

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Fashion designer Tom Ford's road to tranquility in New Mexico has been anything but smooth. A couple of years ago he had to fight for approval to build his Santa Fe home. Now he has bought mineral rights beneath his Galisteo ranch in order to protect his land from possible oil exploration in the region. Ford paid $84,000 for the rights on his more than 1,400 acres of land. In the region the state maintains the rights to sell leases to energy companies. Ford's team tried to persuade the Land Office not to sell oil and gas leases to Tecton Energy, a company which plans to drill eight exploratory wells on 65,000 acres, or 101 square miles, in the Galisteo Basin. The agency however is charged with using the state trust land revenues to help fund public education. Ford's attorney, Janet McKay offered this quote to the press: "We are protecting our land by holding these rights." Ford's ranch is home to a working cattle ranch and an Old West movie set that has been used for several films, including "3:10 to Yuma."

Plans For Spaceport America Revealed

Filed under: Wings


We first heard about the plans for Virgin Galactic and Spaceport America back in December 2005. The home base for space travel promises to bring space tourism to the New Mexico desert. Now the team of US and British architects and designers working on the project have released design renderings of Spaceport America. The design is from a US-British consortium of URS Corporation and Foster + Partners and shows a low-slung design which is tucked into the earth and uses passive energy for heating and cooling with photovoltaic panels for electricity and water recycling. Massive windows open out to the runway. People enter through a deep channel cut in the landscape. The terminal and hanger are expected to cost around $31 million and construction will begin in 2008 with late 2009 or early 2010 projected as a completion date. Big pics of the design drawings in the gallery.

[via Aero-News Network]

Sunrise Springs Resort

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Spas, Events, Green


The Sunrise Springs Resort is a quiet eco-friendly resort in Santa Fe, New Mexico which has been receiving rave reviews. The resort includes private casita rooms with kitchenettes, master bathrooms, computer alcoves, elegant gas fireplaces, and private patios (some also have a yoga/meditation studio) as well as pond-view and garden-view rooms. Megan Hill, the creator of the resort is a former gallery owner, and so there is plenty of art on display in public areas and the guest rooms. The resort has a Japanese Tea House which does traditional tea ceremonies and meals are served at the Blue Heron restaurant, which focuses on organic ingredients and slow food. The spa offers massages, facials and more New-Agey treatments like sound healing and holographic therapy. A three-night stay during the Santa Fe Fiesta, a celebration of Santa Fe history and culture, September 6-8, costs $899 for a stay in a superior casita plus daily breakfast buffet for two in the Blue Heron Restaurant.

Rainmakers Golf Community

Filed under: Estates


The Rainmakers Golf and Recreational Community is located at 7,000 feet up in Ruidoso, New Mexico. The $30 million community will include an 18-hole Robert Trent Jones II championship golf course, a theater for the performing arts, walking trails, a trailhead center with spa, fitness and swimming facilities, a clubhouse with a restaurant and lounge and a 135-acre wildlife habitat and conservation easement. The grounds include ponderosas, pinon pines and juniper and views of Sierra Blanca and the Sacramento and Capitan mountains.

Real estate options include townhouses, patio homes and estate home sites. The development is also making a green effort with energy-saving construction, environmentally-friendly soil technology and property-wide water conservation initiatives. The golf course is the only Audubon Signature Member golf course in New Mexico. In order to be an Audubon Signature course the management had to demonstrate environmental management practices in areas like water conservation and wildlife habitat management. Townhouses will be priced from the mid-$300,000's to the low $500,000's and 186 building lots have an average price of $110,000.

Bishop's Lodge, Estate of the Day


This home on historic Bishop's Lodge Road in Santa Fe, New Mexico manages to update an abode home without robbing it of its charm. The home is in the Tesuque Village area and has 5.7 acres of space that include a pool, spa area, koi pond and a waterfall off the master suite. There are six bedrooms, five bathrooms and 13 fireplaces all in smooth adobe. The home is a good melding of the modern with the traditional. Weathered rugs and the rounded adobe walls and exposed rustic beams speak to the past, while the stainless steel kitchen and updated contemporary bathroom fixtures provide a modern touch. It is listed at $4.675 million. After the jump, just what is that large wooden structure in the center of the room?

Casa de Estrelles, Santa Fe's New Luxury Boutique Hotel

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels


Travelers to Santa Fe desiring an authentic and luxurious New Mexico experience can now look to Casa de Estrellas. This new boutique hotel located in the heart of the city is designer Jay Payne's vision of high end, low key pampering.

With an emphasis on privacy and service, the Casa de Estrellas, or House of the Stars, offers guests private villas instead of rooms, complete with gourmet kitchens and the availability of a personal chef, butler and host. Originally built in the 1930's, the one and two bedroom villas feature mediterranean inspired, adobe style architecture, filled with ancient antiquities from around the world. The property also boasts a full service salon and spa as well as a wedding garden inspired by the work of Kadee Strickland, star of the TV series Wedding Bells. The one bedroom villas start at $195 per night. For larger parties, the 1,200 square foot Aria Townhouse will soon be available starting at $500 per night.

Santa Fe, Estate of the Day

Filed under: Estates


This Santa Fe, New Mexico home has already had its Architectural Digest cover moment. The home sits on a 4.5 acre knoll that has views of the city and mountains. There is a 7,535 sq. ft. adobe main residence, a gatehouse, guesthouse,very long pool, spa, putting green & nature trails. The interior is decorated in muted earth tones that match the landscape. It is listed at $9.5 million. After the jump, does anyone else think the pool and putting green look a bit out of place with this desert home?

Inn at Loretto Arts Package

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels

Summer is a great time to be in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There is the famous Santa Fe Opera and the nights are often cool and star-filled. The Inn and Spa at Loretto is offering a nice four-night vacation package that highlights Santa Fe's rich traditions. The package includes a four night stay in a Vista Grande guestroom, a Native American blessing, walking tour of the Loretto Art Collection throughout the Sculpture Garden, property grounds and the galleries at Loretto, a tour of the Loretto Chapel, a private painting class with your own artist's toolbox, clay classes and a manicure and pedicure at Spa Terre (presumably after the hands-on claymaking). The inn is a 134-room hotel that has kiva fireplaces, earthen-tile terraces and adobe walls. The four-night package begins at $785 per night.

Ute Lake Ranch

Filed under: Estates

Arizona is becoming packed with golf resorts but adjacent state, New Mexico is just beginning to jump on the golf bandwagon. Ute Lake Ranch is a  25,000-acre lakefront resort community being built in Logan, New Mexico. To drum up interest in the project they are inviting the public to submit names for the development's  Nicklaus Design golf course. If you choose the winning name you will get a lifetime membership to the golf course. Ute Lake Ranch will also have a a full clubhouse, 26 navigable miles of water, a Mariner Village and beach club, an equestrian center and a gated community with as many as 12,000 homes once completed. Prices for houses in the first phase will range from $360,000 to $500,000,which is pricey for the area but reasonable compared to much of the real estate in Arizona or California.

Where the Millionaires Live

Filed under: Estates

Want to marry a millionaire? Or, if you are already one, find some other millionaires to hang out with? Move to Los Alamos, New Mexico, where one in five households claims millionaire status, making the town the area with the highest concentration of millionaires in the country, according to a study in Kiplinger's Personal Finance. Many residents in Los Alamos work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where, as one would expect, salaries for nuclear researchers aren't too shabby. Coming in behind Los Alamos is Naples/Marco Island, Florida, as well as the Bridgeport/Stamford/Norwalk, Connecticut region.


[Photo image via Sidecanyon.com]

Tom Ford Gets Approval To Build His New Home

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Looks like Tom Ford will be getting his New Mexico palace after all. The Free New Mexican reports that Ford's plans for  a 14,000-square-foot home on an east-side hilltop have passed the Historic Design Review Board by a 5-1 vote late Tuesday night. Ford, who attended the meeting in his usual chest-hair-flaunting white shirt and dark jacket, is reportedly quite thrilled although some neighbors are still objecting to the size of the home. Ford has revised the home several times to make peace with the locals. As a local boy made good as well as a media celebrity, he was probably given a bit more leeway than others who have come to the area seeking to build a mega manse certainly he has better luck than the property’s previous owners, Wall Street investor Paul Tierney and his wife, Susan who engaged in a long and involved fight with neighbors and city officials to try and build a home there.

Val Kilmer's Ranch for Sale

Filed under: Estates


The LA branch of Apartment Therapy clues us in to a bit of celebrity real estate. Val Kilmer is selling a chunk of his Pecos River Ranch in New Mexico. You're not getting the whole enchilada but Kilmer is selling a full 1,800 acres for $18 million. You don't have to buy the whole thing. The land has already been subdivided into two pieces, a 1,000 acre part with a fishing business on three miles of river, a stable and a rock quarry. The other piece is undeveloped land that can be split into pieces as small as five acres. The land includes a four bedroom log and stucco house, two separate one bedroom casitas with rivers and a two bedroom foreman's house.

The Rocket Racing League Plans New Mexico Headquarters

Filed under: Wings

More news on the growing space industry in New Mexico. Aero-News Network reports that New Mexico governor Bill Richardson has announced that the Rocket Racing League, the NASCAR of the sky, will have its world headquarters in New Mexico. The Rocket Racing League will be based in Las Cruces and will also have facilities at the Southwest Regional Spaceport. Races will be held around the country with the semi-finals at the Reno Air Show in Nevada and the finals in New Mexico in conjunction with the X PRIZE CUP competition. The X-Racer rockets race a three-dimensional track that is one-mile high, two miles long, and a half-mile across and will race three to four laps around the course between pit stops. Cameras will follow the race from balloons, chase planes and the cockpits of vehicles.

Taos Winter Wine Festival

Filed under: Dining, Luxury Travel & Hotels, Wine

Want to combine your ski vacation with a little wine tasting? The 20th Annual Taos Winter Wine Festival starts January 18 and runs through January 29. The festival is host to over 40 wineries and offers a wide variety wine and food events throughout Taos Ski Valley and the Town of Taos. Local restaurants host wine dinners and many winemakers and vineyard owners come to the festival to pour (and soak up the gorgeous scenery).The seminars are small and allow plenty of interaction. There are two Grand Tasting events held on the Friday of each week (January 20 and 27) and a silent auction of great wines benefits the Nature Conservancy of New Mexico and the Taos Community Foundation.

[via Outdoor Newswire]

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