A project that would see the building of a 19-room boutique hotel in downtown Santa Fe is taking a big step forward.
Members of the Santa Fe Planning Commission have given their approval to the hotel, which will go up at the corner of Old Santa Fe Trail and Water Street.
The site, to be developed by Kirkpatrick LLC, is next door to the historic Loretto Chapel.
As planned, 15 of the 19 rooms will be on the building’s first and second floors, with a larger single two-bedroom suite on the fourth floor.
Developer Jim Kirkpatrick, who spearheaded the building of the Inn & Spa at Loretto nearly 50 years ago, has tried repeatedly in past years to get the hotel project approved, only to meet with rejection by a commission unhappy with aspects of the proposal.
It is a smaller and less tall hotel proposal that finally won a green light from the commission.
Kirkpatrick had earlier acquired the block upon which the new project will be built. That block includes the famous Loretto Chapel, which was built in 1878 and is internationally known for its 20-foot-high spiral staircase. The chapel was deconsecrated in 1971.
By Garry Boulard
