The 115-year-old property offers a 59-room hotel, 18-hole golf course, restaurant and bar. New owners Joe and Lanna Duncan plan to make slow, gradual changes to the resort, maintaining the character of the historic building.
The sale of the 115-year-old historic The Lodge Resort at Cloudcroft (N.M.) was completed March 5, the Alamogordo (N.M.) News reported.
The Lodge offers a 59-room hotel with an 18-hole golf course, restaurant and bar. The Lodge originally went to auction in 2014, but it didn’t sell, the News reported.
Joe and Lanna Duncan of Fort Davis, Texas purchased The Lodge from Great Inns of the Rockies Inc. A small, privately held corporation, Great Inns has owned the Lodge since 1992 after repurchasing it. The Great Inns of the Rockies previously owned it between 1986 and 1990, the News reported.
Lanna Duncan said she and her husband Joe bought The Lodge because of a love of history and historic preservation, the News reported.
“I love the stories the properties tell and what they mean to the communities and their history,” Lanna said. “The people locally come and they’re so thrilled to see what’s happening. They have ownership in it to because its in their community.”
The Lodge has a long and storied history from a railroad company first building it out of by-products from searching for timber and railway ties to a fire that destroyed the original structure in 1908. It also hosted and entertained political, military and business leaders, and scientists and astronauts, from across the nation and the world, the News reported.
The Duncans have owned the Limpia hotel in Fort Davis, Texas, which the couple bought from Joe’s father in 1991 but sold it in 2011. They also bought the Stone Village Tourist Camp with a grocery store in 2006 but sold it in 2011. They currently own the Hotel Paisano in Marfa, Texas, and the Hotel El Capitan in Van Horn, Texas, the News reported.
“We love historic preservation,” Joe Duncan said. “We buy historic houses and buildings. We’ve bought seven or eight homes around our hotel in Fort Davis then turned them into night rentals.
“The Lodge is perfectly situated between Fort Davis and California,” Joe said. “We can fly into El Paso from California and drive up here and work. When we’re in West Texas we can drive up and work. We’re going to start out slowly with The Lodge. We’re not going to totally gut this place. We’re going to make slow changes. We like to keep the character of the old building and try to make them into a good business. We have fun and love doing it.
“We’re going to market it with our other two hotels,” Joe said. “We feel like it fits with the same type of people who come through West Texas and Van Horn. They can come up to Southeastern New Mexico. We’re going to send them to Van Horn and Marfa. We’re excited to retain the management here at The Lodge. They’ve been here for decades.”
Lanna said she loves the current staff at The Lodge and the community. “What I like about the buildings is they’re such an important part of the past and part of the present, and they continue to be in the lives of the people,” she said. “I just feel we’re part of their history passing through. I feel blessed to be able to take care of these properties.”
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