From Iron Horses to the Real Thing. Inside a Former Harley-Davidson CEO’s 178-Acre Ranch

By Elaine Shetler-Libent, KW Equestrian Real Estate Agent and Relocation Specialist

My husband wishes that I would have focused more on “iron horses” instead of living, breathing horses, so when I saw that the former CEO of Harley-Davidson was selling his home, I had to peek.

Jochen Zeitz ran Harley-Davidson as CEO from 2020 to 2025, and before that, he spent nearly two decades turning Puma into a global brand. But long before any of that, he was a kid in Germany glued to the TV, watching every Western he could find. “I would watch every Western on television, and I just had that longing to one day live in the West,” he told Realtor.com. That’s not a line from a press release. That’s a guy who grew up dreaming of a place he’d never seen, then went out and bought it.

In 2013, he did. A 178-acre spread just south of Santa Fe called Rancho Alegre, picked up for around $7 million. He then poured another $5 million into expanding and restoring it. By 2021, he and his wife, film producer Kate Garwood, had made it their family’s primary home. Now, after 13 years, it’s on the market for $16,500,000 — and if you’re the kind of person who reads “Harley-Davidson” and “178-acre ranch” in the same sentence and immediately wants to know more, buckle up.

This Isn’t a House. It’s a Village.

Calling Rancho Alegre a “residence” undersells it. It’s more accurate to call it a compound, or honestly, a small town. The Main Hacienda alone has six bedrooms, with 20-foot ceilings framed by hand-carved beams that took two specialist carvers six months to finish. There’s a saloon modeled after old cowboy cantinas, complete with custom leather and ironwork. A solarium. A wine cellar. A movie room. Antique Spanish doors. Edward Curtis photographs hanging in the kitchen. It’s the kind of place where every room seems to be daring you to notice it.

Then there’s the Plaza — a separate cluster of buildings built around a central courtyard that functions as its own private world. Guests can stay in a torreón, a converted Old West jail cell turned into a guest suite. Only the wealthy could turn “you’re sleeping in a jail cell tonight” into a selling point. A chapel with towering bells has been converted into a screening theater, which Zeitz used to display his personal collection of Old West maps, manuscripts, and photographs. There’s even a recording studio and a general store stocked with genuine frontier-era goods.

The Part Every Harley Rider Will Want to See

Here’s where it gets good for our purposes: the Plaza’s traditional carriage house doesn’t just hold antique coaches and wagons. It stores Zeitz’s collection of motorcycles, too.

A former Harley-Davidson CEO keeping his bikes in a 19th-century-style carriage house on a New Mexico high desert ranch. If that’s not the most on-brand storage solution in real estate history, I don’t know what is.

And If Horses Are More Your Speed

The equestrian setup is no afterthought: 12 stalls with paddocks, a 140-by-300-foot fenced arena, a hot walker, a round pen, and a barn with a tack room. Zeitz himself admitted he barely used the equestrian facilities, which just tells you how much extra land and infrastructure came bundled into this deal.

Hollywood Has Already Discovered It

Garwood’s film industry connections gave the ranch a résumé most properties never get. Rancho Alegre has served as a filming location for HBO’s “Succession,” AMC’s “Dark Winds,” “Roswell,” and Adam Sandler’s “The Ridiculous 6.” So if the sweeping desert views look a little familiar, that’s why.

Why This Story Matters Beyond the Price Tag

At $16.5 million, Rancho Alegre isn’t just a trophy listing — it’s a case study in what happens when a childhood dream, serious capital, and a deep respect for a region’s architecture and history come together. Zeitz didn’t just buy land. He brought in William F. Tull’s original Southwestern adobe design, then commissioned Olivia Williams Design Studio and Fearon Hay to expand it while honoring Native American and Hispanic craftsmanship traditions.

That’s the kind of intentionality you rarely see, whether you’re talking about a 178-acre ranch in Santa Fe or 40 acres of Western Pennsylvania farmland.

Because here’s the thing: whether it’s a high desert compound built for a Harley-Davidson CEO’s Western daydream or a family farm tucked into the hills outside Pittsburgh, the story is often the same.

Land isn’t just an asset. It’s where someone’s longing finally gets a mailing address.

Source: JamesEdition, “Former Harley-Davidson CEO Lists 178-Acre Santa Fe Ranch Featured in Succession,” by Sandie Braeckman, August 3, 2026.