La Secoya: A glimpse into the future of Santa Fe "home" living
Sep. 3—It's a typical Wednesday here at La Secoya, and today, most of the residents are sport-ing fairy hair—gossamer-thin strands of iridescent pink and lavender tinsel woven into their locks. Even most of the staff here have streaks of it peeking through here and there. (In truth, most of the female residents here in this pre-assisted living facility are sporting the fairy hair; on the other hand, most of their male counterparts, at their age, lack the thick tresses of the women—or maybe just aren't as daring.)
Officially known as La Secoya de El Castillo, Secoya is the sister community of El Castillo, the assisted (not pre-assisted) Life Plan Community for men and women 65 and older located across the Plaza on East Alameda. Secoya, also for those 65 and older, has 68 independent living units—all of which were sold even before its official opening in April of 2022. El Castillo, which opened in 1971, has 115 independent living units, 21 nursing beds, 26 assisted living beds and 11 memory care beds. El Castillo and La Secoya are one community on two campuses, but with the same philosophy. And the same dedication to quality service and care.
It didn't spring up, though, without some effort. Formerly one of those many plots of land in and around Santa Fe that seem to sit forever vacant, unused, disused or just plain ignored (think: the Railyard, which took nearly 30 years to become what it is today, or the St. Catherine's Industrial Indian School for Boys, practically right down the road from Secoya, which has been gathering dust now since its closing in 1998, and which the City now owns and has done nothing with), it took some vision to see its potential. That vision began in 2017, when former El Castillo CEO Al Jahner bought the 2.52-acre lot from the Presbyterian Church and, five years and $45 million later, finally saw his 15-yearlong dream come to fruition.
However, fruition didn't come without some hiccups, either. First, there was the pandemic. Then, during lockdown, construction crews discovered graves in what used to be the burial grounds of the masonic Scottish Rite Temple next door (graves located near Secoya's building footprint but not on it, part of what used to be the Masons and Odd Fellows Cemetery, incorporated by the Territorial Legislature in 1853, and the earliest non-Catholic burial ground in Santa Fe). Finally, there was the issue of the facility's namesake itself: the 70-foot-tall sequoia tree that Santa Fe arborist Robert Coates and company dug up and replanted—in order to make way for the 55,000-square-foot, 140-space underground parking garage and 40+ storage units.
While miracle might be too strong a word to apply to Secoya's eventual completion, getting from then to now illuminates some of the issues with which Santa Fe continues to wrestle—walkability, urban design, natural beauty, balance—and points to a future that's fast approaching. That future being that the U.S. population is aging, fast, and people are living longer.
According to the Urban Institute, "The number of Americans ages 65 and older will more than double over the next 40 years, reaching 80 million in 2040. The number of adults ages 85 and older, the group most often needing help with basic personal care, will nearly quadruple between 2000 and 2040." Just as significantly, "Older Americans are also living longer. In 1960, men who turned age 62 could expect to live another 15 years. By 2040, they will likely live for another 22 years." And all those old folks, they'll need places to live, and they'll need care. Hence: the El Castillo Retirement Residences. Hence, too, the growth in firms that specialize in these types of facilities, such as Three, the Dallas-based architecture firm that designed La Secoya.
Developed in partnership with the Irving, Texas-based senior living industry consultancy firm Greystone Communities, La Secoya is the first ground-up project designed by Three for the nonprofit owner-operator El Castillo, for whom Three had previously designed an expansion and upgrades.
Given nearly 200,000 square feet to work with, Three's principal architect Rockland "Rocky" Berg talked about his overall philosophy in a 2022 interview with Horizon TV's Rob Cassidy. Intent on creating "an avenue full of choices," in which facilities can move from "entertaining their clients to engaging their clients," with Secoya Berg was able to "focus on [an] experiential senior-living design ... with emotional connections" and provide residents with the notion of purposefulness and living in a community, all of which are a "big element of living longer and living better."
Berg believes in open floor plans and likes kitchens with islands in the center—all features in Secoya's units, which range from 894 to 1, 485 square feet with one or two bedrooms, some with a den, most with outdoor patios and some with enough actual soil for a small garden.
La Secoya also boasts a wealth of amenities: a fitness room for supervised workouts; a salon for haircuts, manicures and pedicures; a putting green; a landscaped courtyard with fire pit, a billiards room (yet to come) and a large community room with capacity for about 90 that can also double as an indoor pickleball court. La Secoya differs from Castillo mostly in that it is a pre-assisted living facility (medically and financially), not assisted, like Castillo.
It was Jahner's vision that future guests have another facility to go to, to live. To that end, he made sure that La Secoya has a nurse on-hand 24/7, an emergency call system in place and a staff that's hands-on. El Castillo also has full care and a health center. And everybody who buys in over at La Secoya gets a life-care contract, and residents at both get the same quality care services.
And Secoya's current residents bought in—before Secoya had even started construction. Based partly on the stellar reputation of Jahner and El Castillo, and also just on what they'd seen (and, no doubt, the unbeatable location). The one difference is, once a Secoya resident moves on—literally or euphemistically—the unit they paid for goes to the next person on the waiting list. Not to one of their children, not to a beloved pet. No matter if they lived at Secoya for ten days or ten years. What Secoya residents do get is that lifecare contract. (Again: a harbinger of future assisted-living care.)
Plus, Secoya does not take Medicaid. It's a differentiator from other assisted-living facilities, for sure, but also something that bonds its residents. (According to one study, the average age of someone in an active senior living community is 72.) Not that Secoya's residents needed reasons to get to know one another. There's a palpable sense of community at Secoya, not just among residents but among the staff—and between the staff and residents.
The people who work at Secoya are solicitous, attentive and compassionate. Even though a good number of Secoya's residents were born elsewhere, have their own concierge doctors (doctors Stewart Anderson and Joel Rosen are quite popular at Secoya) and have live-in or daily caregivers, Secoya exhibits a simpatico staff-resident relationship.
Most Secoya residents have also lived in Santa Fe or New Mexico for quite some time. Or they'd been coming to Santa Fe for years and years before deciding to move into La Secoya. Some might even have a second home in town. Or children who live here as well. Or they spent summers in Santa Fe earlier in their lives.
And instead of calling it downsizing, the transition from, say, a 5,000-square-foot home to a 1, 400-square-foot one bedroom, as was the case for Secoya resident Pam Duncan, it's a growing phenomenon that Berg refers to as "rightsizing." It's also one that Secoya's visionary himself experienced firsthand.
After running El Castillo for 32 years, Jahner retired in 2021. To Secoya.
La Secoya: A glimpse into the future of Santa Fe "home" living
