By a yes, yes, yes, yes and a "resounding yes," Santa Fe County commissioners voted unanimously Friday to lend $6 million to a film production company that plans to build a film studio complex on N.M. 14 south of the city.

Without public-private partnerships such as these, Commissioner Virginia Vigil said, "no economic development would exist."

It's been a long road to the altar for Santa Fe Studios and Santa Fe County. The film company's chief executive officer, Lance Hool, and his son Jason Hool, the president of the company, have been negotiating the partnership with Santa Fe County for nearly five years.

Lance Hool promised the commission Friday that the company would hold up its end of the bargain.

"We're going to do everything we said we were going to do and without your help, we wouldn't be able to do it," he said. "We are really happy that you stepped forward in such a way."

Santa Fe Studios has agreed to buy 65 acres of land from the county and build an eco-friendly, multistage film production facility. In addition, the studio has agreed to partner with local colleges and other entities to provide film training opportunities and to provide a minimum of 500,000 hours of above-minimum wage jobs.

For its part, Santa Fe County has agreed to pay for about $3.5 million worth of infrastructure improvements to the property, which is off N.M. 14 near the state prison, and to lend the studios $6 million toward construction of the project.

Under the terms of the deal struck Friday, the $6 million loan will be secured by the value of the property itself — about $2.6 million before improvements — as well as a $2 million line of credit or cash provided by the Hools, and about $4 million worth of assets owned by the family's La Luz Holdings LLC. La Luz Holding will be the official purchaser of the land, and will lease it to Santa Fe Studios, according to county documents.

The exact nature of the $4 million worth of assets was not detailed Friday.

The project was originally pitched as a four-stage, $40 million complex, but it has been scaled back to a first phase that would include two stages and cost about $16 million.

Santa Fe Studios — whose principal owners include Lance Hool, Jason Hool, Lance's brother Conrad Hool and New Mexico Democratic Party chairman Javier Gonzales — has also been approved to receive a $10 million economic development grant from the State Department of Finance for the project.

But that money hasn't been delivered yet, and Commissioner Liz Stefanics hinted Friday that Santa Fe County's commitment is contingent on all the various funding sources coming together.

"This doesn't set up the loan agreement today," Stefanics said. "La Luz really has to go to work on the Legislature to keep the $10 million. Our piece is really not the major piece of this project."

Once the larger chunk of funding is secured, Stefanics said, the county will compose a more detailed loan agreement designed to guard the public's financial interest in the project.

"When we are assured that all the pieces are put together, we intend to have a great deal of oversight over a construction loan," Stefanics said. "I want to assure the public we are going to be very careful about this."

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com