Rex Ranch history could provide insight on its future | Local News Stories

The 36-bedroom property with eight casitas is about a half-mile south of the Arivaca Road exit on the eastern side of Interstate 19, just inside Santa Cruz County. The property sold for $695,000 in 2017, and will be developed by resort company Auric Road.

The company is known for buying historic properties and renovating them to honor their history. Those properties are “connected by a road, of sorts, which is the ethos that connects every one of our properties and experiences,” said Elena Sheridan, who works for a PR firm hired by Auric Road. 

There is no solid time frame for renovation and reopening, though the company’s website states the ranch is undergoing renovation and will welcome guests in 2022.

“(Auric Road) is very thoughtful in how they do everything,” Sheridan said. “When it comes to the development process, properties are developed in context to their region.”

Auric Road’s Lone Ranch Mountain in Montana is a tribute to the American West, where guests stay in log cabins and go fly fishing, horseback riding and have all-access tours of Yellowstone National Park. Hotel Joaquin in Laguna Beach honors California Riviera culture with a 1950s inspiration.

“If there’s a common thread in all the Auric Road properties, it’s that they are all so focused on experiencing where you’re at,” Sheridan said.

The properties offer Wifi, but guests won’t find televisions in their rooms. They’re encouraged to get out and experience the culture and history of the region.

Rex Ranch was part of the 1820 Canoa Spanish land grant. Tomas and Ignacio Ortiz paid $250 for 17,000 acres. Rancher Thomas Driscoll and cattleman Frederick Maish purchased La Canoa from the brothers in 1876, and held it until 1912, the year Arizona became a state.

In 1937, Rex Hamaker of Houston purchased the ranch and added the Montosa Canyon cattle ranch to give guests a dude ranch experience.

By 1950, Hamaker allowed a Houston friend to open the Kennerly Finishing Ranch for girls during the summer. Each 6-week session cost $600 and included 25 to 60 girls. The program, which taught sewing, makeup and high-fashion modeling, ended in 1959.

In 1956, Alfred S. Donau II leased and later purchased both pieces of property. Rex Ranch could accommodate 30 guests and provided riding, swimming, croquet, shuffleboard, card games, pool, ping pong, trap shooting and golf at the predecessor to the Tubac Golf Resort. It was within this decade that famed Tucson architect Josias Joesler designed one of Rex Ranch’s signature buildings, according to Betsy Fearnow, a volunteer with the Tubac Historical Society.

Fearnow helped research the history of local ranches for an ongoing exhibit at Tubac Presidio State Historic Park and Museum.

“In 1956, Al and Frankie Donau take over the Rex, first as lessees, later as owners,” Fearnow said. “Rex Hamaker’s son-in-law, Worth Bartlett, runs cattle on the Montosa ranch portion for several years until the Donau’s take over the cattle portion of the ranch.”

In 1980, the Donaus sold the guest ranch to two women —one named Lee Franklin — however, the women were unsuccessful and the Donaus, who held the paper, had to foreclose.

Following the Donaus’ management, Rex Ranch was no longer operated as a guest ranch again. It was in 1987 that the 50-acre Rex Ranch portion of land was purchased by Richard and Barbara Blake.

The couple rebuilt and modernized 14 of the buildings for a private compound. Nearly a decade later, the Blakes sold Rex Ranch to Patricia and Wayne Ross, who added a restaurant named Cantina Romantica and spa. Meanwhile, Al and Frankie Donau sold the Montosa ranch section to the Bunn family in 1999.

Since then, Rex Ranch has been in limbo facing failed controversial proposals and overly ambitious visions.

In 2005, developer J.T. “Tim” Bunn proposed to put 3,800 homes (later reduced to 2,464) on 624 acres of the Montosa section of the ranch but did not get approval from the Santa Cruz County Planning and Zoning Commission.

Patricia and Wayne Ross also reportedly opposed the project. But Bunn withdrew the project before the Supervisors could vote on the plan.

In 2011, Rex Ranch, then a resort-spa, was listed for sale for $2.2 million by Patricia and Wayne Ross, but it didn’t sell. In September 2011, the Rosses transfer the property via quitclaim deed to Turnkey Development, LLC. They were paid nothing. 

Turnkey Development had planned to start a wellness center at Rex Ranch and in January 2012 file for bankruptcy protection from debts of over $1.4 million owed to HSBC Bank USA. On March 12, HSBC and National Bank of Arizona successfully petitioned to overturn the bankruptcy. The property was put up for public auction but nobody offered the minimum of $991,000.

In 2013, a grassroots movement formed to buy Rex Ranch with a vision to allow artists and scientists to stay for a period of time and keep it open to the public for educational purposes.

The asking price while the nonprofit group Save the Rex Ranch Inc. was trying to fundraise was $735,000. It later dropped to $525,000, but even with the price cut and an extension to come up with the money, Save Rex Ranch volunteers called it quits after six months.

In 2014, Beth and Steve Bjerke paid $190,000 in cash for the bank-owned property, according to Santa Cruz County Recorder records. Beth Bjerke told Green Valley News after the sale that she had a dream of forming a nonprofit and establishing a “place where people and families inflicted with Parkinson’s can learn and grow from one another.”

The dream never came to fruition.

In 2016, the Bjerkes sold the property for $550,000 to Douglas and Josie Smith, a Palm Springs couple. The couple then sold it in 2017 for $695,000 to the current owners. In November 2017, a conditional use permit was approved for a maximum 50-unit guest ranch.

Nearly five years and a global pandemic later, it’s still unclear when or how the property will be redeveloped. Paul Makarechian, the founder and CEO of Auric Road, did not return requests for comment on what will influence the future resort’s conceptualization or when that information will be available. But a 2017 letter to Santa Cruz County’s community development department paints an illustrious picture: “At the foot of the property a pair of custom iron gates open to reveal a lush landscape within, a fully restored fishing pond and renovated historic casitas that pepper the extensive ranch,” Makarechian wrote.

“The pink adobe guest accommodations echo the surrounding desert environment and new private outdoor plunge pools blur the line between indoor and outdoor space.”

Makarechian envisioned amenities like wellness seminars, yoga, guided hiking, Tubac tours, clay shooting and horseback riding.

“A petite resort by name, Rex Ranch seeks to be more than just guest accommodations – it will be a destination for people seeking an authentic experience,” he wrote.

According to that 2017 application to Santa Cruz County, the new owners plan “to stabilize the deteriorating structures” and modernize the buildings in order to reopen the property as a guest ranch providing up to a maximum of 50 rooms, a restaurant, bar, gift shop, spa and outdoor recreational activities.

Sheridan, from Auric Road’s PR firm, spoke to the Green Valley News this month about the detail and forethought put into the other properties in the company’s portfolio.

“With each of Auric Road’s boutique resorts, guests have a unique experience,” Sheridan said. “The experience at Rex Ranch won’t be anything like what guests experience in Montana or Laguna Beach. It’s memorable and special.”

There are no obvious indications that the property currently is undergoing renovations.