Santa Fe Studios
It may have been a sweeheart deal, but a district court judge in Santa Fe ruled that Santa Fe County’s agreement with private developers to build a movie studio on the outskirts of town is legitimate.
“The issue is not whether it is a wise use of public money,” Judge Sarah Singleton said Tuesday (Oct. 4). “That’s not my call to make.”
What was her call was deciding whether claims by an attorney for Santa Fe residents Jack Stamm, James McGaughey and Gregg Bemis that the county’s deal allowing the construction of Santa Fe Studios on Highway 14 violated the county’s own procedures as well as the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA).
“The county can use public monies with private industy to create new jobs,” Singleton said.
Back in 2009, Santa Fe county commissioners OK’d a deal in which Santa Fe Studios — backed by Lance, Jason and Conrad Hool — received land, free water utility hookups, a $10 million grant from the state and a $6.5 million loan to construct a state of the art facility to lure Hollywood producers to New Mexico. The Hools are longtime friends of former Gov. Bill Richardson. One of the original partners in the plan was Javier Gonzales, who is now the chairman of the state Democratic Party. But Gonzales has recently said he has detached himself from the project.
Bemis, McGaughey and Stamm protested, taking their complaints to court. Judge Barbara Vigil was supposed to hear the case back in March but suddenly recused herself hours before the hearing was to be held, delaying a hearing until Tuesday. In the meantime, the Hools have been busy constructing the studios, presuming the petition would be denied in court.
The petioners’ attorney, Mary Walta, argued that county taxpayers could be on the hook for the cost of the deal if the studio goes belly-up and that the operators of Santa Fe Studios act more like landlords than active employers.
The county’s attorney, Stephen Ross, countered that should the studio ever default, the county could take over the facility, which he estimated would be worth between $19.5-$25.5 million. Ross also said the studio operators must provide a half-million hours of jobs at greater than the Santa Fe minimum wage.
“As long as it [the project] provides any services at all, it qualifies under the (LEDA) statute,” Judge Singleton ruled, adding that LEDA provides wide latitude to the county when it makes such decisions.
The bottom line? The studio gets greenlighted while Stamm and Bemis said after the hearing they won’t appeal.
Here’s reaction from both sides:
Just this past weekend, the Albuquerque Journal in its Santa Fe edition, printed a story in which Lance Hool showed off the facility, which is largely completed. It includes an 18,000-square foot soundstage, dressing and makeup rooms and even and balconies with mountain views where “creatives can come out and smoke a cigarette or have a glass of wine,” Lance Hool told the Journal. You can click here to read the story. (Sorry, subscription required).
According to the article, the studio is set to open for business in about two weeks.
