Sunland Park, New Mexico, just got bigger.
The Sunland Park City Council Oct. 28 approved annexing 534 acres of land to allow the Rancho Santa Teresa housing development to grow. The annexed land is located north of Airport Road and east of Pete Domenici Highway, also known as New Mexico Highway 136.
The annexation “strengthens our tax base, creates new housing opportunities, and connects key corridors that will support both residents and businesses for years to come,” Sunland Park City Manager Mario Juarez-Infante said in a statement.
Sunland Park is a growing city of more than 17,000 people on the west edge of El Paso. It’s home of the Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino, which recently changed ownership, and the Western Playland amusement park.
New homes, including many built by Zia Homes, an El Paso homebuilder, are shown May 2025 in the Rancho Santa Teresa development in Sunland Park, New Mexico. An undeveloped portion of the subdivision is also being annexed into Sunland Park, on El Paso’s west edge.
Housing needs in the Sunland Park area are likely to grow even more in the future with a huge data center complex planned for next-door Santa Teresa and other economic growth in the Santa Teresa industrial parks. A large housing community is planned near the data center complex off of Pete Domenici Highway.
The owners of the 534 acres petitioned Sunland Park for annexation.
“Sunland Park has the public services” needed for the housing residents, said El Paso businessman Bill Hagan, managing member of the CG7 company, one of four owners of the acreage.
Hagan also is a member of LBG Properties, the company that three years ago began developing the Rancho Santa Teresa housing community. The developed portions of Rancho Santa Teresa have already been annexed, he said.
The new annexation includes 307 acres of undeveloped land inside the Rancho Santa Teresa footprint, Hagan said. The other 227 acres of the annexed land are adjacent to the housing development’s footprint.
Development of the newly annexed land likely won’t occur until four our five years from now, he said.
New homes, including many built by Zia Homes, an El Paso homebuilder, are shown May 2025 in the Rancho Santa Teresa development in Sunland Park, New Mexico. An undeveloped portion of the subdivision is also being annexed into Sunland Park, on El Paso’s west edge.
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So far, 630 home lots have been developed on about 150 acres, with about 350 homes built in Rancho Santa Teresa, Hagan said. The entire development is planned to cover 850 acres and eventually have about 3,500 homes.
The Santa Teresa High School at Airport and McNutt roads is in the middle of the development, Hagan said.
The annexation will allow the next steps for the Rancho Santa Teresa expansion, Hagan said. That includes the creation of another Public Improvement District, or PID, which would assess homeowners an annual tax to help pay for public improvements, including streets, water lines, and parks. The developed portions of Rancho Santa Teresa already have a PID, which the Sunland Park City Council must approve, he said.
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 915-546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter, now known as X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Sunland Park grows with 534-acre annexation for housing growth