About the Cliffs at Crystal Mesa

The Cliffs at Crystal Mesa is a boutique community for Higher Earth Living. Located just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico this gated sanctuary offers Mountain Homesteads ranging in size from 5 – 50 acres. A sovereign place of anchorage in our ever changing world, the community tenets are committed to sustainable living for an awakening planet.

Overlooking Pecos Wilderness in Santa Fe National Forest, homesites enjoy expansive views of forests, rolling hills and seasonal snow capped mountain peaks. The Cliffs at Crystal Mesa celebrates a true four season climate, with temperate summers, mild winters and breathtaking falls. Framed by the stunning cliffs of Glorieta Mesa, Ponderosa Pine, Piñon and Juniper whisper amongst expansive wildflower meadows.

The Cliffs at Crystal Mesa offers refined and authentic reconnection with the sacredness of nature.

Santa Fe Mountain Homesteads

Imagine living in an innovative, uniquely-designed mountain contemporary home that offers a stylish mix of Santa Fe aesthetics and modern rustic elements. Mountain modern homes are one of the newest trends in architecture and are one of the most sustainable. This architectural style respects the land, the surrounding high desert habitat and wildlife.A Mountain Modern Rustic Style offers:

Unique Exterior Design: A fresh take on the classic rustic home with its sharp, modern edges. Adopting the energy efficiency of more modern spaces, architects can create a home that still has a rustic flair.
Clean Lines: Clean lines, open layouts, tall ceilings, sweeping views and a totally relaxing vibe. A more open aesthetic than traditional cabins.
Windows & Light: More light with floor-to-ceiling windows that frame nature as the home’s most important feature.
Texture & Color: Flexibility employing either bold or neutral colors with design emphasis placed on the building materials. From smooth glass to rough stone, chunky woodwork, stucco and textured concrete, the building materials become part of the decor.
Local Sourcing: A plan to include green building materials and the use of local sourcing and reclaimed materials like wood, steel and stone. It’s not just for aesthetics; local sourcing pays respect to the land and allows the home to blend with its natural surroundings.
Indoor/Outdoor Living: Outdoor land is part of the total living space, which means walls of retractable windows, huge decks. built-in hot tubs and native landscaping.
Low Maintenance Design: Homeowners are seeking landscapes that complement and enhance their homes and blend into the surrounding natural environment. The benefits of an integrated landscape are many: the aesthetic appeal, increased property value, and increased livable space beyond the footprint of the home. Utilizing local stone and native plants means less time maintaining your home and more time enjoying it. By taking inspiration from the landscape, smooth, thoughtful exteriors contrast beautifully with the natural vegetation.

Community CC&Rs and Design Guidelines

The Cliffs at Crystal Mesa is committed to sustainable living and has implemented high standards of green development. Cliffs architectural styles are chosen as environmentally and aesthetically in harmony with the local land and to offer homeowners a deeper experience of nature. Thoughtful CC&Rs protect the environment, the value of each homesite, and support harmony amongst neighbors.

Please download and view The Cliffs CC&Rs and other Governing Docs.

Note: The Cliffs at Crystal Mesa was originally incorporated as The Cliffs at Padre Springs which is referenced on the plat map, the CC&Rs and the HOA Bylaws and which content practically and legally applies to The Cliffs at Crystal Mesa.

Living Personal and Planetary Sustainability

From its inception The Cliffs has been created as a full spectrum sustainable community, with the highest level of environmental and cultural diligence informing the study, design and development of the property. The Cliffs is a place to honor past, present and future ways of living in harmony with the land and the many eco-systems it influences. Extensive archaeological research revealed petroglyphs high in the cliff walls, which inspired the design of the beautiful copper entry gate. Clearing of trees for fire mitigation was done using forest mulching technology and additional cleared underbrush buried onsite and reseeded to to create a wildflower field. Design standards protect wildlife natural territories so they may continue to roam freely. The Cliffs requires all homes achieve Build Green New Mexico Bronze level certification, and encourages owners to pursue Silver and Gold levels of certification.To support Owners creating their own personal sustainable sanctuaries, The Cliffs offers resources for green building, on-property food production, and connection with the greater Santa Fe community including through outdoor activities, service opportunities and educational alliances.

Nature-Inspired Amenities

The Cliffs is carefully curating anchor neighborhood amenities to serve its Homeowner’s values, with a primary focus on opportunities for authentic immersion in nature, as well as ways to experience nature in a fresh, meaningful way. To this end the first amenities scheduled for the community are an extensive trail system for hiking and biking. Clearings off the trail system will offer outdoor fitness stations, meditation gardens, and a stone labyrinth for reconnecting with and enlivening personal and planetary energies. A large pergola is being considered for outdoor yoga and community workshops, with a nearby telescope and sundial offering engaging ways of experiencing cosmic bodies and rhythms.

Agrihood Vision

In the coming years The Cliffs would like to establish itself as an agrihood, and offer its residents and other nearby communities a thriving farming/ greenhouse operation on property or in close relation. Even now Cliffs’ developers are actively seeking a qualified farmer affiliate, which operations could also include a CSA and a weekly farmers market for the Pecos/ El Dorado area. The agrihood program would ideally offer an educational component, researching and teaching leading practices in eco- sustainable food production operations. Depending on community demand, there might also be the potential for pop-up dinners and/ or a small farm to table cafe operation.

Development Team

Louder than at any other time in human history the Earth is calling out to us. It is now time for humanity to listen…

Owners/Developers, Bob and Denice Sherwin

Bob and Denice Sherwin are pillars of the greater Santa Fe community, having served in various business and charitable leadership roles over the decades. Passionate about holistic health and the environment, the Sherwins have built businesses to innovate both industries.

Bob and Denice have extensive experience in real estate and hospitality. Bob started in the industry working for Thousand Trails, providing private membership wilderness camping Preserves that averaged 500 to 1000 acres in size. Bob achieved awards as the company’s first National Sales Manager, overseeing 45 resorts in 24 States with 1200 sales people and annual sales revenue around $150 million per year.

Bob and Denice were recruited to move to Santa Fe in 1991, as two of the original four real estate brokers hired to represent Las Campanas sales. They worked for the developer for seven years then started their own real estate companies in 1998. One of the companies specialized in Las Campanas Properties exclusively and a second company specialized in high-end real estate in Santa Fe. The Sherwins bought this land with a vision to create a community aligned with Mother Earth.

Angela Lynch

Angela has over twenty five years experience developing, directing and consulting for holistic resort developments, intentional communities and wellness spas. She has served as co-developer, visionary strategist and project manager for both US and international projects including in the Bahamas, China and San Francisco. As a regional director for the Maharishi Ayurveda Spa program in California, Angela oversaw the business development of authentic Ayurvedic wellness spas for the state, including the site acquisition and renovations, staff hiring and training, marketing and operations for the 5 spas under her team’s direct management. In recent years she has focused on creating values based communities committed to personal and planetary healing and awakening. Angela is president of The Wholeness Crystal Earth project, a 501c3 non-profit working to transform humankind through higher earth and cosmic energies. Angela has coauthored and edited two books of spiritual content.

Joyce Bogosian

An innovative Marketing Strategist and Business Development Specialist, Joyce launched her career as an International VP of Marketing & Sales for several high-tech Fortune 500 companies doing business in Europe, South America, Mexico and the Middle East. In 1994, Joyce moved to Santa Fe where she launched the Santa Fe Business Incubator and worked as Assistant Director for the New Mexico Small Business Development Center, promoting entrepreneurship. Joyce co- developed, built and operated in Santa Fe an intentional LGBT resort retirement community, with a progressive, diversity-based, inclusive social model. It was the first of its kind in the US and subsequently gained international recognition, having received many awards for its pioneering achievements and business excellence. Joyce is an active member and advocate working with several environmental, climate justice and human rights organizations who are seeking to advance the people and planet platform for eco-sustainable change.

Message from the Sherwins

“Our dream at The Cliffs is harmony. This Earth that we live on is constantly communicating its natural balance to us through a whisper, a whisper heard in the expansive silence of nature. Louder than in any other time in human history the Earth is calling out to us. It is now time for humanity to listen.

“The mission of The Cliffs at Crystal Mesa is to embrace the Earth and spread a song of harmonious truth through our community and beyond. As stewards of the land, we respect the antiquity and the importance of this expanse.

“It is our wish to protect this land with all we have, while at the same time enjoying its vast beauty and spectacular uniqueness. Out of this respect we are building The Cliffs at Crystal Mesa with 95% open space to preserve its history, unique topography, and natural beauty. The land is sacred and possesses all we are.”