Competing visions for Immaculate Heart
One plan would create a ‘low-key’ hotel on the property; the other would create another branch of academy for the middle aged
“Avery low-key hotel” or workshops on how to make the most of middle age are the likely future options for the Immaculate Heart of Mary Retreat and Conference Center that the Archdiocese of Santa Fe seeks to sell in bankruptcy proceedings.
The small Mighty Union hospitality company in Austin, Texas, submitted an offer of $6.4 million in February for the 12-acre property that started as a sanatorium in the early 1920s and came under archdiocese ownership after World War II. The property had been listed at $7.8 million.
Mighty Union partner Jack Barron said the sale was under contract March 1 with intentions to create a 52- to 60-room hotel within the existing footprint of the buildings, but a few weeks later he was no longer under contract.
“We were supposed to be closing in two weeks [in mid-May],” Barron said. “We’re still very much interested in it.”
A higher offer came from Modern Elder Academy, which plans to provide workshops for people in middle age to shift their mindset on aging so they can repurpose themselves for the betterment of society, in the words of academy owner Chip Conley.
“We made an offer that is higher than the Mighty Union offer before the archdiocese went under contract with Mighty Union,” Conley said.
Conley did not disclose how much he offered for the property.
The archdiocese chose not to discuss Immaculate Heart of Mary.
“The legalities of a bankruptcy are a complex process of not only getting the best offer, but also of approvals from the claimants and the court,” archdiocese spokeswoman Leslie Radigan wrote in an email. “I do know that more information will be forthcoming. Leadership has indicated there is no additional information we can provide.”
Barron believes the sale may be heading to auction. Conley is not publicly speculating other than he believes Modern Elder Academy has offered a better deal.
Barron and his wife, Jen Turner — two of the three partners in Mighty Union along with Donald Kenney — were house hunting in Santa Fe to permanently relocate from Austin. They did not have a project in mind for Santa Fe until local real estate people mentioned Immaculate Heart, near where they bought a house.
Meanwhile, Conley in early January purchased the Saddleback Ranch in Galisteo for $8.5 million and will use the ranch for his first U.S. Modern Elder Academy after launching the brand in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in 2017.
Conley had a second New Mexico academy location in mind as he negotiated the purchase of Saddleback Ranch, but Immaculate Heart did not enter the picture for him until late fall, and he waited to proceed with Immaculate Heart until after the Saddleback sale was finalized.
Both Barron and Conley say they will keep existing tenants Santa Fe Workshops and New Mexico Performing Arts Society on board. The former is based at the retreat and the latter stages many of its shows at the retreat’s chapel.
“We don’t want to build anything new,” Barron said. “We just want to renovate existing buildings and open a very low-key hotel. We’re not talking about big rock concerts and outdoor events. This is … not a luxury place.
This is a very special experience. We want people to know what living in Santa Fe feels like. It’s not meant to put on airs.” Barron’s plans also include a restaurant. “It’s not going to be white tablecloth,” he said. “It’s going to be somewhere between Dolina and Campo Los Poblanos in Albuquerque.”
The Mighty Union in recent years converted the 1940s Carpenters Hall union building in Austin into a 93-room boutique hotel called The Carpenter. The company also has the Spirit of 77 sports bar and Pépé le Moko bar at the Ace Hotel, both in Portland, Ore., and The Suttle Lodge in Deschutes National Forest in Oregon. The Mighty Union also has a forthcoming hotel planned for the Veramendi House in San Antonio, Texas, and another hotel/ restaurant project in the works for the Wo Fat Building in Honolulu’s Chinatown.
Conley launched the Joie de Vivre boutique hotel chain in 1986 at age 26 with a single hotel in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District. He owned 52 hotels over the years and sold the company in 2010.
Conley bought a house about 30 miles north of Cabo San Lucas in 2017, and a short time later launched the first Modern Elder Academy on his property.
Conley envisions a “country” version of Modern Elder Academy in Galisteo and a “city” version at Immaculate Heart. He said the Galisteo version will touch more on nature and the Immaculate Heart version may collaborate with the neighboring schools.
“It might as well be called Education Hill,” Conley said of Immaculate Heart’s proximity to Santa Fe Prep across the street, St. John’s College beyond the retreat’s eastern boundary and Atalaya Elementary School just beyond the bend in the road.
“We don’t want to build anything new. We just want to renovate existing buildings and open a very low-key hotel.” Mighty Union partner Jack Barron