New York Times
Maytag Mountain Ranch and Santa Barbara Plantation -By NICK KAYE
May 2008
WHAT A residential community on a working cattle ranch.
WHERE Hillside, Colo.
AMENITIES An equestrian center and fishing streams and ponds, among others.
PRICES Homesteads start at $879,000.
STATUS Four houses have been completed, and nearly half the lots have sold.
DEVELOPER Russ Maytag, the original owner of the ranch.
CONTACT (800) 363-9856 or www.maytagmountainranch.com.
DETAILS Ranches all across the West have been giving way to residential developments in recent years, and for most the transformation is complete. But this 3,000-acre development in south-central Colorado is more like a second-home community for agritourists, a co-op with cattle. Near the peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains about 75 miles southwest of Colorado Springs, the project consists of 27 homesteads of about 100 acres each on a 30-year-old cattle ranch. Buyers, who build houses that adhere to design guidelines, share ownership of the ranch itself, including the herd of 300 grass-fed cows. Owners can help perform a variety of chores like tending the herd, farming a one-acre garden, milking cows and collecting eggs, or they can leave the work to a team of ranch managers. Income from the ranch goes to an owners' association for upkeep. There is a common building, shown, with a catering kitchen where the ranch's certified organic beef and produce is prepared for parties, as well as game rooms, a library and a bar. Two two-bedroom cabins for guests, which owners may reserve for a month each year, are available. The equestrian center has six horses and offers an instructional program, and owners with their own horses can have them boarded. Ten miles of trails for riding, hiking and biking are on the site. Quarterly association dues are $2,200. The Colorado Springs Airport has flights from Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles and elsewhere; the larger Denver airport is about three hours away.
