MARFA — Last week El Cosmico announced the July 1 closure of its current site, a collection of “nomadic accommodations” including vintage trailers, tents, yurts and a lobby shop on 21 acres in South Marfa, established by hotelier Liz Lambert over 15 years ago.
The sunset of the existing El Cosmico, also home to the Trans-Pecos Festival of Music + Love, comes at a time when the business is shifting its focus to an undeveloped 61 acres in East Marfa, where it plans to create a larger-scale luxury resort complete with 3D-printed hotel rooms and homes in addition to a restaurant, pool and bathhouse.
In a letter to the editor in this week’s Big Bend Sentinel Lambert wrote that she is “filled with a mix of emotions” about the closure of the long-running gathering space and the hotel’s next iteration. The music festival first took place in 2006, with El Cosmico opening a few years later in 2009.
“I have a tremendous amount of nostalgia about the extraordinary times we’ve had in this place over the past eighteen years,” Lambert wrote. “At the same time, I am enormously excited to begin building the new El Cosmico, and for what’s ahead at the new location.”
It was previously announced that the current site would close sometime in the summer of 2025. When asked why the date of July 1 was chosen, Lambert said it was a business decision informed by the impracticality of investing further in existing infrastructure.
“As it stands today, we don’t feel like the property represents the standards we have for El Cosmico, but it doesn’t make financial sense for us to invest in getting it up to par at this stage,” Lambert wrote in an email statement. “These nomadic accommodations, particularly the tents and soft-sided accommodations, require a tremendous amount of upkeep in the climate of West Texas. It’s something we’ve thought a lot about for the new site.” (Some were recently taken down due to extreme wind, not due to the forthcoming closure, she said.)
The trailers, yurts and tents will stay in place, for now, until they can be moved over to the new site. The 21 acres will remain El Cosmico property — available for “select buyouts” after the hotel and campground closure, according to the business’ website.
Lambert said existing staff were informed last week that their roles will be eliminated following the July 1 closure of the property, with a small group remaining to “help close things down and maintain the grounds.” Guests who had reservations after July 1 were notified of cancellations, issued refunds and extended a “special invitation” to the new property once it opens.
The Trans-Pecos music festival, which traditionally takes place in the fall, remains on hiatus until the new site opens.
In the original March 2023 announcement about El Cosmico’s relocation and expansion, Lambert said ICON, the Austin-based 3D printing construction company erecting the new structures on land east of town, will also help build affordable housing units on the original site.
This week, Lambert said the old location is still being considered as a site for affordable housing, but updates on that aspect of the project are not yet available. “As you can imagine, there are a ton of moving parts to this project, but we are actively working on the affordable housing component in tandem with our work on the new site,” Lambert said.
El Cosmico has been in ongoing discussions with Presidio County, American Electric Power (AEP), and the City of Marfa for around two years regarding roads, electricity and water and wastewater services for the new site, located near the Antelope Hills neighborhood.
The city’s engineers recently conducted a water and wastewater feasibility study about extending services to the new El Cosmico site, which Lambert said didn’t raise any major alarms. She said the business is hopeful that they will be able to sign agreements and improve city services as a result of these utility discussions. El Cosmico previously vowed to foot the bill for the extension of services.
“There were no issues raised that would cause us to change our plans to use the city water and wastewater,” Lambert said. “The system design and plans for any needed upgrades to the city’s system are still being finalized — we’re eager to move this forward as quickly as we can, but we’ve been working within the constraints of the city’s timeline.”
In July 2024 El Cosmico broke ground on the new site with the construction of a 3D-printed model home and hotel room. Lambert said those models are in the “finish-out stage,” and interiors are underway. She said building conditions have been a challenge, but “nothing ICON hasn’t faced before” and modifications are being made as needed before construction on the entire property begins in earnest, potentially before the end of the year.
“The models have been great to test out and make adjustments to the design before plans are finalized,” Lambert said. “We are verifying decisions we are making about the model homes, and there are a few other things of that nature in consideration as we begin to build at scale.”
While ICON laid off about 25% of its employees earlier this year, Lambert said that workforce reduction has not impacted the El Cosmico project. The houses planned for the property, referred to as “Sunday homes,” were on the market earlier this fall — ranging from $2.29 million for a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home and $2.69 million for a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home — but those real estate listings are no longer active.
Lambert said some of the homes have been sold, but as El Cosmico talked to more customers they realized they “want to offer a few other configurations.” “That work is underway currently, and we can’t wait to share more soon,” Lambert said.