Santa Fe Studios up for sale amid slowdown in production spending

The owners of Santa Fe Studios are taking their final cut as they seek to sell the major film complex.

It is unclear when the property entered the market, but commercial real estate firm CBRE announced it was selected as the exclusive adviser for the sale of Santa Fe Studios in a news release last week.

Anthony Jasenski, CBRE’s national film production studio practice leader, is teaming up with Sean Sullivan, Melissa Moock, Mike Longo and Jim Dountas to represent the seller, the news release said.

The film campus features 57 acres of backlot space and 79,550 square feet of building space, encompassing two 19,275-square-foot sound stages, 24,000 square feet of Class A production offices and a 17,000-square-foot warehouse, according to the news release. A listing price was not disclosed, and the listing agents did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.

The listing comes as the state’s film industry continues to feel the impact from an industry-wide lull that started with the COVID-19 pandemic and was further fueled by the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, along with increasing competition from international markets to host productions.

Companies directly spent $323 million on productions in New Mexico between July 2024 and June 2025, according to a recent economic impact report from the New Mexico Film Office. This is a drop from $740 million between July 2023 and June 2024, the report said.

Even still, the CBRE news release pitched the listing as “a unique opportunity to acquire a 65-acre, state-of-the-art media campus in one of the most production-friendly jurisdictions in the United States.”

The Hool family bought the property in 2006 and has developed it since construction began in 2011, according to the news release. The family’s experience in the film and entertainment industry spans six generations, according to the Santa Fe Studios website.

The studios are led by CEO Lance Hool, an actor, writer, director and producer whose projects include the 1984 war film “Missing in Action” featuring Chuck Norris and the 2004 action thriller “Man on Fire” featuring Denzel Washington.

Productions filmed at Santa Fe Studios include The CW’s television series “Roswell, New Mexico,” Showtime’s miniseries “Waco,” and New Line Cinema’s 2013 movie comedy “We’re the Millers.”

“This is a generational opportunity to acquire a fully operational, expandable studio campus in a top-tier production market,” Jasenski said in a statement.

A major draw of the property, the news release said, is its location. Santa Fe Studios, located about 20 minutes from the state’s capitol building at 1 Santa Fe Studios Road, is situated in an area zoned as a media district.

This means that productions filmed at Santa Fe Studios are eligible for a location-specific 5% tax credit. New Mexico’s robust film incentive program — which offers a 25% base and up to 40% of tax credits, based on factors such as where the production is filmed — has contributed to the state’s emergence as a contender for projects looking to film outside of California.

New Mexico was the fourth-largest production hub in the U.S., based on total spending, over a 12-month period, according to reporting by The Hollywood Reporter and an April report from production intelligence platform ProdPro.

Netflix is among those that have invested in the state’s film industry. The media company bought Albuquerque Studios in 2018 and debuted an expansion of the studios in 2024. Netflix has directly invested nearly $575 million into productions in New Mexico since 2019.

The CBRE news release said Santa Fe Studios comes with a fully approved second phase for future development, including additional sound stages, post-production facilities and hospitality or retail spaces.