Far-West Texas Ranch Near Big Bend That’s Half the Size of Rhode Island is Still for Sale
“As discussed below, “Brewster Ranch,” covering a 30-mile-by-50-mile area, comprises 22 parcels and is the largest ranch coming to market in several years.
NOTE: this article was originally published to ExpressNews.com on March 1, 2023. It was written by Timothy Fanning.
The so-called Brewster Ranch hugs the Big Bend National Park and borders the Rio Grande. It is 420,000 acres of mountains, springs, creeks and low Chihuahuan desert.
But finding a qualified buyer for the largest fee-simple ranch for sale in the United States hasn’t been easy, said Fort Davis Realtor James King. However, there have been several serious offers since the property was listed in 2020.
“There is a person for every piece of real estate,” King said. “And we’re patient. This isn’t a fire sale.”
Among the challenges in selling Brewster Ranch is that the property is so large it’s often hard for buyers to get their head around. It takes an entire day for just a cursory view of the property – which is often done with the help of an ATV, a helicopter, an airplane or a combination of the three.
Windmills draw water from wells at the 34,123-acre Horse Mountain Ranch in Brewster County north of the Big Bend National Park, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The ranch is one of several that make up the 420,000-acre Brewster Ranches that is on sale.
Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
Another is overcoming the stereotypes of West Texas’ landscape.
“People make an assumption that since it’s south of Marfa, it’s just rugged old desert,” King said. “But this has mountains. It has pine and cottonwood trees. It has year-round, running, crystal-clear water from a segment of the San Francisco Creek. It’s like owning your own Big Bend National Park.”
The land belongs to Brad Kelley, an investor from Tennessee who made his fortune in land and tobacco. Kelley was listed by the magazine Land Report as the seventh-largest landowner in the United States with about 1.15 million acres. He owns a variety of other West Texas ranches.
“Brewster Ranch,” covering a 30-mile-by-50-mile area, comprises 22 parcels that have been patched together and were originally sold as one. It’s now being marketed as seven separate ranches.
The headquarters sits on the northern edge of the 34,123-acre Horse Mountain Ranch in Brewster County just south east of Marathon, Texas and north of the Big Bend National Park, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The ranch is one of several that make up the 420,000-acre Brewster Ranches that is on sale.
Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
“We’d love to sell it to one person and keep it all together,” King said. “The seller is very conservation-minded. Fragmentation is the biggest threat to Texas landscapes.”
The Brewster Ranch is the largest ranch to be listed since the 520,000-acre W.T. Waggoner Ranch was sold in 2016. The Northwest Texas ranch was sold to Stan Kroenke, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Rams.
Such a massive property has attracted its share of serious buyers who have yet to pull the trigger on the purchase. But it’s brought in people who have no money and no business humoring such a large purchase.
A lake captures the waters from historic Reed Spring by the headquarters of the 34,123-acre Horse Mountain Ranch in Brewster County just south of Marathon, Texas and north of the Big Bend National Park, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The grind holes were used by Indians. The ranch is one of several that make up the 420,000-acre Brewster Ranches that is on sale for $319,200.000.
Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
A mesa rises above the horizon from a road between the 196,000-acre Dove Mountain Ranch and the 34,123-acre Horse Mountain Ranch in Brewster County north of the Big Bend National Park, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The ranches are part of 22 properties that make up the 420,000-acre Brewster County Ranches for sale at $319,200.000.
Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
“We kind of call them kooks,” King said. “And so it’s funny, in our business and not just this ranch, there are people out there that feel like they want to communicate the idea or the fantasy of owning that kind of ranch. And they have no business doing it.”
Most serious buyers are just looking for a place to recreate with their families or clients, King said. Others just want to invest in Texas’ burgeoning real estate market.
In Texas, the growth of recreational buyers has increased exponentially, King said.
Yucca plants grow on a hill at the 196,000-acre Dove Mountain Ranch in Brewster County north of the Big Bend National Park, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The ranch makes up part of the 420,000-acre Brewster Ranches that is on sale for $319,200.000.
Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
“People want to get out of San Antonio, escape from Houston or Dallas, and have their own property that they can enjoy and work on to enhance, restore or maintain. And then there’s the pleasure of owning and managing a ranch.”
And while some put their investments in the stock market, bonds or other investments, the buyer of Brewster Ranch, whoever that is, will understand more tangible things.
“And if you have your money in bonds or the stock market, it could evaporate, you know, whereas land is land, and so you can enjoy it,” King said. “You can feel it, you can be on it.”
A mesa in the distance is a view offered from the headquarters of the 196,000-acre Dove Mountain Ranch in Brewster County north of the Big Bend National Park, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020. The Chaney House is located by the headquarters of the San Francisco Creek Ranch that is now part of the 196,000-acre Dove Mountain Ranch located in Brewster County north of the Big Bend National Park.
Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
The San Francisco Creek offers running water year-round at the 196,000-acre Dove Mountain Ranch in Brewster County, Texas, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020.
Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
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