Santa Fe in Wall St Journal

Great story in among all the carnage of today’s Wall Street Journal.  It’s built around the opening of the Santa Fe Railyard Park + Plaza last weekend, an even in which I was honored to participate.  

 

Santa Fe’s distinctive adobe architecture is getting an infusion of
corrugated metal and loft-style galleries. A flurry of development here has set off a
debate about how best to reinvigorate a city that is deeply associated with its 400-year
history and distinctive Southwestern architecture.
Santa Fe’s travel infrastructure is poised for a major upgrade. Train service with Albuquerque is slated to begin in December. And at least one commercial airline is seeking approval to fly direct into Santa Fe’s small airport; most visitors now have to fly to Albuquerque, then make the one-hour drive.

 

Here’s a copy of the story.

Railyard Opens This Weekend!

One of Santa Fe’s most anticipated openings is this weekend, when the 50 acre Railyard Park + Plaza opens to the public in a 2 day extravaganza of music, antics, speeches and fun.  I’m honored to play a small part in the weekend’s festivities.  I hope readers of this blog, whether local or visitor, will take the opportunity to enjoy this fabulous new place! Here’s  the map of the park, and here’s the schedule of the weekend’s events.

Needless to say, the transformation from urban blight to urban treasure has had a significant impact on property prices in the neighborhood, and it’s immensely gratifying to see “close to Railyard” on many home flyers now, whereas it used to be just “minutes from the Plaza”!

Santa Fe's new Railyard Park & Plaza WOW!

Santa Fe New Mexico Railyard

In a previous post I talked about the myriad of construction/redevelopment projects going on around Santa  Fe.  Well yesterday I took a walking tour of one of the signature projects, the 50 acre Railyard, scheduled to open in September of this year. I drive by this project almost every day, but I never had such a sense of the magnitude and complexity of it. And the pure joy of it. This much ballyhooed development will, I think, live up to its hype.

From the new REI to the Farmers Market 12 screen movie theater to the stunning parkscape overlooked by the Trust for Public Land, this is going to be an asset to Santa Feans for generations to come. The park itself will be an actively-managed one, with events, programs and all kinds of entertainment – there’s a kids play area that makes you want to be 8 yrs old again… It’s got a ‘tributary’ of Santa Fe’s original Acequia Madre – the ‘mother ditch’, a peaceful circular ramada with swing chairs facing the center, a 400 ft long trellis walk that’ll be covered in trumpet vines… For visitors and residents alike, the Railyard is a treat that you’ve got to experience.

Rightsidefrank