Ex-NHL star turns to ranch development

He just paid $6 million for six lots of four to five acres at a new ranch development 15 miles north of downtown Tucson, Ariz., and plans to build spec homes on each lot.

Stephen Phinny, developer of the entire Saguaro Ranch, plans 180 houses over the next several years but intends to leave 80 percent of the low-desert acres undisturbed, encourage use of electric cars, and keep architectural guidelines strict, with an emphasis on Sonoran and Old Arizona Ranch House styles.

The duchess of Santa Fe

The dowager duchess of Bedford, known before her marriage as Nicole Milinaire, is selling a Santa Fe, N.M., property she and her late husband, the 13th Duke of Bedford, owned for more than two decades.

The 1813 estate, known as Rancho Viejo, has a $2.5 million asking price and is one of the few remaining Spanish Colonial haciendas in the U.S.

The gated family compound on 4 1/2 landscaped acres includes a four-bedroom, 5,075 square-foot main residence and 3,280 square feet of guest quarters, including a cabana, two-bedroom cottage and one-bedroom caretaker's casita. Antique features have been restored, including thick adobe walls, antique gates and doors, brick floors and viga (beam) ceilings. There are fireplaces throughout the residence.

The grounds are home to old cottonwoods and fruit trees, vegetable gardens, a swimming pool and lily pond.

Pat French and Ashley Margetson of French & French Fine Properties in Santa Fe have the listing.