Ken was a roofing and remodeling contractor in Austin, Texas, for twenty-six years. One August, he escaped the scorching Texas heat by vacationing in Ruidoso. While driving around the quaint mountain village, he discovered an ideal forty-two-acre tract of property and the wheels began turning in his mind. When he returned to Austin everything came together timing-wise, and he made the decision to sell his business and his home in Round Rock.
Ken initially developed fourteen acres of the property as a rental subdivision. Renters commented on how much they enjoyed the cabins and the quiet woodsy feel of the surrounding area, and they began asking Ken to build cabins they could buy. After nine months of gaining approval from the town, county, and zoning commissions, Keegan began developing the remaining twenty-eight acres of the property to create the Alpine Village Cabin subdivision. The luxurious one bedroom, one bath units on the property became Ruidoso’s only individually owned, gated community with onsite Homeowners Association management to include common ownership of over twenty acres of secluded green belt area. Following the success of his subdivision, Ken decided to begin building his own home on an adjacent property.
Ken came to Ruidoso as a bachelor, but he built a home for more than one person. “I don’t want to say I was on the hunt, but I was lookin’,” said Ken as he smiled at his wife. Anita bought cabin number five in the Alpine Village, and that was how they met. She moved to Ruidoso to escape the hustle of southern California and planned to be a traveling nurse using her cabin as a home base. “I threw a bit of a monkey wrench into that,” said Ken, “Anita is very talented. She has an artistic approach to everything, which has helped me a great deal with what we did in our home.” Mrs. Keegan is now retired and is pursuing artistic paths. She is taking painting classes and has become partial to painting animals and children in oil. She also renovates dollhouses as a hobby.
Ken constructed his cabin using a pier and beam system typically used in cabins that are on a slope. You basically dig a foundation in accordance to the slope of the property, which was sixteen feet off the ground. Ken went from zero feet where the garage is located to sixteen feet at the balcony. Fortunately, he did not have to cut a road in because of an adjacent lot that had a very natural driveway leading directly to Ken’s property. The cabin is 4,000 square feet with a 1,600 square foot deck and a 1,000 square foot garage. The exterior of the cabin features El Dorado stone, which is a manufactured product that Ken used in the construction of a couple of other cabins. The attractive stone is coupled with Hardie Plank siding, which is a cement-based material that looks like cedar and carries a masonry fire rating because it does not support combustion. The exterior colors were picked to match the tones of the surrounding pine trees, and the Piñon-painted siding achieves the goal of blending home and nature. The deck is made of dark pine treated with a super coat for maximum resistance to mountain elements. Ken really enjoys cooking and does a lot of barbequing on his stainless steel Charbroil commercial grill while he enjoys the panoramic view.
Shades of green carry over to the interior of the house and are accented in the kitchen granite and the bathrooms. The main living area and bedrooms are warm shades of off-white, perfect for providing a clean canvas to match the elegant décor and chic style of the Keegan home.
Ken has plans to move forward with another subdivision called Canyons of Ruidoso, which will have 1-1.7 acre parcels with a buyer’s option to select their own builder. Regarding what’s on the Keegan’s personal horizon, Ken said, “We’re really in a quasi-retirement phase right now. We’re just enjoying the natural beauty of New Mexico.” Surrounded by tall pines, stunning views and a marvelous mountain cabin, enjoying life seems like the right thing to do.
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