La Cuentista in Albuquerque, NM

La Cuentista is a master-planned community on Albuquerque's West Mesa, in the northwest quadrant near the Paseo del Norte and Unser Boulevard corridors. Its streets look out toward the Sandia Mountains, the Rio Grande Valley and the lava escarpment of Petroglyph National Monument. Pulte Homes builds the Estates at La Cuentista section, a gated enclave with a park and basketball court at its center. The rest is single-family housing on graded mesa lots, governed by the La Cuentista 1 Homeowners Association, which HOAMCO manages and whose dues cover common areas and road maintenance. City-owned open space sits alongside the subdivision.

The mesa beside the houses is public land. Albuquerque assembled the 59.26-acre La Cuentista Open Space in phases from Elk Haven LLC, buying 37.26 acres and taking 22 more as a donation from Stan Diamond and Francies Pavich, with the last transfer closing in December 2024. The West Mesa Trails Plan names a trailhead and trail connections here as the next step, and the Open Space Division has carried a concept site plan to public meetings. Built out, that link feeds the wider West Mesa trail system, which also reaches Piedras Marcadas Canyon.

The association calls itself a green community and holds its meetings at the Don Newton-Taylor Ranch Community Center rather than at an on-site facility. Governing documents and meeting schedules are posted through HOAMCO.

One section is recorded beneath the community: Estates at La Cuentista, the Pulte enclave behind the gate, where plans are sold with energy-efficient construction and smart-home wiring.