The Santa Fe Opera won't be getting a new, open-air rehearsal hall built with state funds.

Legislation approving a lease-purchase deal between the Department of Cultural Affairs and the opera will not reach the full Senate before the Legislature adjourns Saturday.

"We've run out of time," said Jerry Nelson, the opera's assistant director of development. "We're back to square one."

House Joint Resolution 8, introduced by Rep. Ben Luján, D-Nambé, was seeking legislative approval for the first time for the sale of a facility built by the state specifically for the purposing of leasing and then selling it to a private entity.

Under the agreement, the opera would deed a small parcel of its land to the state, which would then build the hall on the property and lease it back to the arts organization for three to five years at fair market value. The hall would be available for public use, except for the three months of the summer, when it would be used by the opera. In addition to making lease payments, the opera would make separate payments of in-kind services such as programs for children, tours and concerts toward the purchase of the hall.

The state has already appropriated $1.4 million in capital outlay funds to pay for construction, and the opera has commissioned the design.

The attorney general said the arrangement did not violate the anti-donation clause of the state Constitution, which prevents the state from donating to private individuals or entities. But many lawmakers expressed reservations over an arrangement that benefits a private nonprofit organization.

After passing the House on Feb. 28, the measure was referred to three committees in the Senate — "about the hardest road you can have," Nelson noted.

The opera, he said, will now begin exploring other alternatives for construction of the hall, which it needs during the summer season when all five productions are in rehearsal. But for now, he said, "We're done," adding, "Obviously we're disappointed."

Nelson and Charles McKay, the opera's general director, acknowledged the economic challenges the state is facing and the implications for public spending. "The road was a very hard one in these circumstances. It was an uphill battle," Nelson said.

The opera has its own financial problems. In a recent letter to the editor published in The New Mexican, Paul Hoffman, chairman of the opera board, said that ticket sales are slower than last year, even with special discounts being offered, and the opera had cut its budget by $1.2 million, or 7 percent, by freezing salaries and other cost-cutting measures.

Contact Anne Constable at 986-3022 or aconstable@sfnewmexican.com.