Would you pay $700 a night to sleep under the stars at this Sand Dunes-area resort?

MOSCA, Colorado — A handmade sign at the start of a long dirt road in the rural San Luis Valley indicates to visitors that they’ve arrived at the future site of Kosmos Stargazing Resort & Spa.

The peaks of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains barely make a dent in the big blue skies above the 40 acres purchased by founder and CEO Gamal Jadue Zalaquett. He aims to transform the land into a resort featuring 20 villas, a spa, a restaurant and a planetarium.

“It’s a place of alignment. Kosmos is a place of connection,” Jadue Zalaquett said. “Kosmos, in a way, is a place to heal, and the San Luis Valley has a lot to do with healing.”

He bought the property for $11,000 in December 2020. But with glass domes for stargazing and expensive price tags to stay the night, Jadue Zalaquett’s ambitious brainchild falls snugly into the category of “luxury ecotourism.”

His site is an ideal spot for admiring constellations and distant galaxies. According to the National Park Service, the nearby Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve is considered an International Dark Sky Park. Jadue Zalaquett said the area is a class two location on the Bortle dark-sky scale, which translates to “truly dark” skies.

The resort’s planetarium will include a 1-meter telescope. In terms of getting visitors to Kosmos, “that’s gonna be the biggest attractor,” Jadue Zalaquett said.

Development is still in the early stages, but it’s already garnering attention from the public: Over 12,000 Instagram users follow the resort’s page where project renderings and updates are shared.

Kosmos plans to open its first villa early next year, said marketing operations manager Jennifer Geerlings. Although it’s still under construction, the resort has already booked over 2,000 reservations, she added.

“A lot of it, for some people, is the excitement of being the first to be able to stay in an experience like this,” Geerlings said in a phone interview. “There’s really no other resort that’s doing this.”

While Jadue Zalaquett put about $500,000 toward getting the project off the ground, a crowdfunding campaign raised $1.9 million, Geerlings said.

Donors paid a one-time fee to receive 50% discounts off their reservations for early 2025. So instead of paying the usual $700 nightly rate, they booked at $350 per night, Geerlings said.

And after the campaign’s end, people continued to contribute directly via Stripe, which put total revenue from crowdfunding at over $2 million, Jadue Zalaquett added.

So why is it worth it to stay at Kosmos? For Geerlings, the answer is a combination of the villas — with their jacuzzis nestled in glass domes under the stars — and amenities like the planetarium.

“You’re able to experience some of the best stargazing. The Milky Way is visible to the naked eye,” Geerlings said. “A planetarium is something that’s never been at a resort before.”

Future plans for Kosmos

In November, director of field operations Auston Duncan stepped over sagebrush and loose hardware to outline the state of construction on the project.

An unfinished villa offered a hint of what’s to come. The rectangular building with exposed wooden rafters and newly-installed glass sliding doors will soon house a bedroom and a bathroom.

Jeremy Stephen, the founder of Steamboat Springs-based Evolve Construction, built the villa out of hempcrete, which is made of hemp, water and lime. It works as an eco-friendly insulator, helping to mitigate heating and cooling costs and lending itself to the vision of Kosmos as a resort with sustainability in mind.

On one side of the villa, a hot tub will be installed. On the other, a dome made out of glass and wood from Ekodome will cover the kitchen and loft area.

The development will occur in phases. Next year, 16 stargazing villas (which hold up to four guests) and 4 galaxy villas (which hold up to eight guests) will be constructed, Geerlings said.

Every stay includes an hour of a guided stargazing experience and telescope training.

In 2026, the amenities will be built out. Those include the Mediterranean-style restaurant and the wellness center with spa features like hyperbaric chambers, a sauna and a cold plunge.

In 2027, the planetarium will be added to the resort. To ensure dark skies, guests will park their cars and use electric golf carts to navigate the resort, Jadue Zalaquett said.

He mentioned that discussions with consultants on the stargazing center included a NASA representative, who was interested in hosting a mission workshop at Kosmos next year.

Both the planetarium and the spa will be open to the public, Geerlings added.

“Back at my roots”

All in all, it’s a bold plan. And Kosmos is looking to hire to make it happen.

Right now, the business is in search of employees to lead their stargazing experiences. So far, it’s recruited a former Great Sand Dunes ranger, Geerlings said. The team is considering college students from Adams State University in Alamosa as interns.

Kosmos will also need to staff resort operations, including housekeeping, security and front desk workers. “We’re gonna try and hire pretty much everyone locally,” Geerlings said.

For Jadue Zalaquett, taking on an endeavor like this runs in his blood.

He currently lives between Alamosa and Boulder, but Jadue Zalaquett was born in Chile and grew up in Miami. When his family migrated to Chile, they ran hotels. Several paternal relatives work as architects.

However, Jadue Zalaquett didn’t initially follow the family business. Instead, he worked in technology startups for almost a decade.

Then, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he visited the San Luis Valley. He realized that, although the Great Sand Dunes were located less than a half hour away, tourists could only choose from a few lodging options.

So came the idea for Kosmos.

And “here I am, back at my roots,” Jadue Zalaquett said.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.