Estiven Villatoro of Proscape Landscape Management works behind the Drury Plaza Hotel last month. Proscape is in charge of landscaping maintenance at a number of hotels. Photos by Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican
Sean Gabriel, owner of Proscape Landscape Management, started the company in 2013 and it now has more than 50 employees.
Candido Perez mows the grass behind the Drury Hotel with a crew from Proscape Landscape Management in September. Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican
Estiven Villatoro of Proscape Landscape Management works behind the Drury Plaza Hotel last month. Proscape is in charge of landscaping maintenance at a number of hotels. Photos by Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican
The College of Santa Fe was a bustling campus for more than six decades. Today, the 66 acres is mostly devoid of people, with Sean Gabriel’s crew from Proscape Landscape Management conspicuously standing out.
“We’re at the midtown campus every day, cleaning up the vegetation,” Gabriel said. “It’s been vacant and neglected for quite a while and it’s obviously overgrown. We’re focusing on different buildings and priority areas for the city. Right now we’re removing low-lying limbs from trees. We have not started the [weed] mowing not yet. That’s generally the easiest task, so it’s left until last.”
The parcel off St. Michael’s Drive has been mostly vacant since May 2018, when Laureate Education closed its 8-year-old Santa Fe University of Art & Design. The campus previously was the home to the College of Santa Fe from 1947 to 2009.
