These 1,750 acres are simply the most phenomenal property to come to the market in the Teton Valley in decades. Jackson Land and Cattle is one-of-a-kind in every respect: world-class improvements, including an equestrian center designed by Jonathan Foote, AIA; lack of any development restrictions; and don’t forget the stunning Teton views. Hall and Hall’s John Pierce has the listing.

2. Walton Ranch: $100 million

This 1,848-acre working cattle ranch was pieced together by the Walton family beginning in 1958. The family placed the ranch under conservation easement in 1983. Billy Long and Ron Morris of Ranch Marketing Associates have the listing.

3. Ranch Dos Pueblos: $84 million

This oceanfront parcel is on the market for the first time in three decades. Spanning 2,175 acres just west of Santa Barbara, it’s one of the largest remaining ranches along the breathtaking Gaviota Coast. Kerry Mormann & Associates has the listing.

4. Tranquility Estate: $75 million

These 210 acres on Lake Tahoe are crowned by a 20,000 square-foot mansion. Owned by Tommy Hilfiger co-founder Joel Horowitz, it was originally priced at $100 million in 2006. Listed by Shari Chase and Sue Lowe of Chase International.

5. Aspen Valley Ranch: $59 million

Billed as the largest ranch near Aspen in the Roaring Fork Valley, this ranch boasts senior water rights as well as over 800 acres and is located just 10 minutes from the Aspen airport. Joshua Saslove of Joshua & Co. has the listing.

6. Robert Taylor Ranch: $56 million

112 acres in Los Angeles’s tony Brentwood enclave. The roomy ranch house, which was designed by Robert Byrd, features 17 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms. Joyce Rey of Coldwell Banker Previews International has the listing.

7. Hana Ranch: $55 million
This 4,500-acre working ranch on eastern Maui surrounds the town of Hana. The property boasts two miles of Pacific oceanfront and rises over 2,200 feet up the slopes of Haleakala. Dan Omer of Island Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing.

8. Rockpile Ranch: $54 million

For only the third time in over a century, this 55,374-acre cattle ranch in the Davis Mountains of Far West Texas is on the market. Since 1992, the Rockpile has been owned by McCoy Remme Ranches (No. 41 on the 2011 Land Report 100). James King of King Land and Water is the listing agent.

9. Dana Ranch: $45 million

With only two distinguished owners in nearly 100 years and an unmatched record of profitability, the Dana is considered by many to be the finest operating and recreational ranch in the Rocky Mountain West. Supporting 3,000 animal units on 59,000± acres, it boasts over 13 miles of superb fisheries and an incredible diversity of wildlife resources from elk to waterfowl to upland birds. Listed by Dave Johnson with Hall and Hall.

10. Flying Dog Ranch: $40 million

This 245-acre Aspen landmark features nearly a mile of Collins Creek and Woody Creek and borders the White River National Forest. Morris & Fyrwald Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing.

Click here to download a copy of the November 2011 newsletter.

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Larry Ellison, a man who “views prime real estate as scare commodity that can’t easily be replicated,” is expanding his holdings in the Lake Tahoe area, a region well known for its pristine waters and world-class skiing.

Regarded as one of the country’s largest consumers of trophy real estate, Mr. Ellison is the third-richest American with a net worth of $33 billion according to Forbes. Since the mid-1990s, Mr. Ellison has amassed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of top-shelf properties around the world, including five adjacent lots in Malibu; a mansion formerly owned by the Astor family in Newport; a historic garden property in Kyoto, Japan; and a 249-acre estate in Rancho Mirage that includes a private 19-hole golf course.

Once Mr. Ellison finds an area he likes, he will typically purchase multiple properties that are adjacent to one another and then combine them into a single, sprawling compound. He also purchases other lots nearby to increase his total holdings in a specific area.

According to public records, Mr. Ellison began purchasing in the Lake Tahoe area in 2006 and since then has created three noncontiguous lakefront parcels in eight separate deals.

Click HERE to read the full article in the Wall Street Journal

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CrossHarbor Capital Partners LLC paid $115 million to buy Montana’s Yellowstone Club out of bankruptcy court yesterday. The Boston-based private-equity firm agreed to pay $35 million in cash and assume $80 million in debt owed to Credit Suisse. CrossHarbor will also infuse up to $75 million in working capital.

CrossHarbor’s principal, Sam Byrne, is a Yellowstone Club member, and has been closely following its fortunes. In 2008, CrossHarbor attempted to acquire the club for $450 million.

According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the sale capped a week of non-stop negotations in the court of federal bankruptcy Judge Ralph Kirscher. The only other bidder was Credit Suisse, which in 2005 loaned $375 million to Tim and Edra Blixseth, the now divorced couple who jointly founded the club.

As part of the final deal, Credit Suisse will be allowed to co-invest in the club with CrossHarbor. Credit Suisse also received additional assets, including Yellowstone Club real estate and a castle in France that the Blixseths had acquired. Unsecured creditors were recognized by the court as $19 million was set aside to pay local vendors, tradesmen, and others.

This marks the second major bankruptcy ruling in as many months involving Credit Suisse. In April the Promontory Club outside of Park City, Utah, sold to the Pivotal Group for $30 million. Credit Suisse had put together a $350 million loan package for Pivotal, which it used to develop the resort community before seeking bankruptcy protection.

According to the CrossHarbor website, the LLC “is an active investor in the distressed securities market. We invest in a wide variety of securities including real estate loans, corporate loans, and structured securities that are suffering from stress including monetary and/or technical defaults.”

Read more at:
“Cross Harbor Wins Yellowstone Auction,” Bozeman Daily Chronicle, May 18, 2009.

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Yet another twist to a story we’ve been covering out of Park City, Utah.

Last year, the Pivotal Group, developers of the 7,200-acre Promontory Club, threw in the towel and sought bankruptcy protection. At stake was more than $350 million in loans packaged by Credit Suisse as well as a choice swath of 7,200 acres overlooking Utah’s Park City.

In bankruptcy court last month, the Promontory Club failed to sell. Guess who ended up with it? An affiliate of the Phoenix-based Pivotal Group. That’s right: the developer who defaulted on $350 million in loans purchased the property out of bankruptcy. The price? $30 million.

The 7,200-acre property features luxury second homes situated around Pete Dye and Jack Nicklaus golf courses and world-class skiing in nearby Park City.

Read more at:
“Bankrupt Luxury Community Sold to Same Developer,” Associated Press, April 17, 2009.

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CBMR’s parent company Triple Peaks, LLC and CNL Lifestyle Properties, a real estate investment trust specializing in recreational assets, have entered into a 40 year sale-leaseback arrangement which means a robust financial position for CBMR and a continually improving experience for our guests. CNL has purchased the resort assets necessary for ongoing operations. In turn, Triple Peaks, LLC will lease back the operating rights to Crested Butte Mountain Resort, Okemo Mountain Resort and Mount Sunapee Resort. With initial discussions between the parties starting in earnest this past May, this partnership is perfectly aligned with recent rebranding, strategic initiatives, and leadership changes at CBMR.
 
As Diane Mueller said, “In these economic times this allows our three resorts to move forward. The bottom line is that the Muellers aren’t going anywhere. We’ve been in this industry twenty years and we’re passionate about it. We can now focus on ski operations.” With major capital improvements now in the planning stages, the acquisition gives Triple Peaks’ management additional capital to build the Red Lady Lodge here in Crested Butte and to construct a conference center and an additional 9-holes of golf at Okemo Mountain Resort.
 
With questions on the sale-leaseback arrangement, Scott Clarkson, VP of Sales and Marketing at Okemo Mountain Resort, answered it this way: “Given the capital and debt credit situation, a financial arrangement like this was able to happen because of the strength of Triple Peaks and the strength of CNL. Their financing is cash-based so they are not subject to the vagaries of the markets. For the resorts, we change from debt financing to equity financing. We’ll make lease payments to CNL rather than interest payments to banks.”
 
CNL Lifestyle Properties has a diverse portfolio of 115 properties including recently-acquired Big Sky, Montana and Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort among many others.  Click here for a list of their portfolio.
 
The resort assets while owned by CNL, will be under the operational control of CBMR. Further, the Muellers still maintain ownership of the residences within The Lodge at Mountaineer Square, homesites in Prospect, some base area properties, and all of the undeveloped real estate previously in their portfolio. This will allow the Mueller Family and CBMR to participate in shaping the future of the area in a way that honors and enhances what makes this place special for those that live and visit here.

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According to its website, CNL Lifestyle Properties invests in income-producing properties with a focus on lifestyle-related industries. The company acquires properties and leases them primarily on a long-term, triple-net basis. CNL Lifestyle Properties intends to invest in properties with the potential for long-term revenue generation based on demographic trends, associated concentrations of wealth, and other proprietary underwriting models.

CNL Lifestyle Properties is one of the nation’s largest owners of golf properties with a golf portfolio comprised of 52 properties throughout the United States. In March 2008, the REIT announced the acquisition of three Virginia golf courses from Traditional Golf Properties. Two of the acquired golf courses, The Crossings located in Glen Allen, Va., and Kiskiack located in Williamsburg, Va., are semi-private courses. The third course, Broad Bay located in Virginia Beach, Va., is a private club.

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As far as backstory goes, no one knows it better than the fine folks at New West. Based out of Missoula, these guys describe themselves as “a next-generation media company dedicated to the culture, economy, politics, environment and lifestyle of the Rocky Mountain West,” and they’ve been on this story from day one. Although this report is three weeks old, it goes into great detail about the financial woes, the legal wranglings, and the principal players.

The New York Times has also been regularly reporting on the Yellowstone Club, and this weekend it continued its coverage with an article that gives a more regional perspective on the boom-and-bust cycle surrounding the entire enterprise. It’s especially worthwhile to notice that the writer picked up on several of the other recent resort bankruptcies, including one we covered: Park City’s Promontory Club.

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Woods debuted his plans for his first U.S. design over the weekend in North Carolina. According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, the course will be part of the new High Carolina from Cliffs Communities in Fairview and is scheduled to open in 2011. Approximately 1,000 to 1,200 homes are planned for High Carolina. Lots will range in price from $500,000 to $2 million.  

The arrival of Woods gives developers an extremely marketable name to entice high-end buyers in the competitive world of resort development. While upper tier markets haven’t slowed as much as the rest of the country, Monday’s bankruptcy petition by the owners of the Yellowstone Club and a similar filing earlier this year by Utah’s Promontory Club show that no sector of the real estate market is immune from downturns and slow downs.

Throughout his professional career, Tiger Woods has chased Jack Nicklaus’s matchless record of 18 majors. As elusive as that has proven, catching up with the Golden Bear’s record as a golf course designer may be even more of a challenge. To date, Nicklaus Design has 337 courses open for play in 33 countries and 39 states. Nicklaus himself has been involved in the design of 269 courses. By comparison, Woods has only three designs in the works: one in Dubai, a second in Mexico, and High Carolina, his first U.S. design.

Does Tiger stand a chance of ever catching up with the Golden Bear? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Ute Lake Ranch sits on a picturesque palette along a 13-mile-long body of water within the spectacular bluff country of the High Plains. And it’s the water that strikes you. Ute Lake appears out of nowhere and demands your attention.

As we soon found out, along with the water residents will have a host of amenities to choose from. According to the developer, Carma US, the property boasts a one-of-a-kind, 8,000-yard golf course called TwelveShores, the first Nicklaus Design championship golf course to feature 12 holes that play along the water. No matter what your handicap or ability level is, this course is sure to please.

For fun on the water, residents can have the exciting experience of fishing for trophy largemouth and smallmouth bass, water-skiing, or jumping a wake on a jet ski. If you prefer a slower pace, then just coast into a quite cove or sail into the beautiful New Mexico sunset.

The community marina will host a world-class restaurant where residents can dine for the evening or grab a gourmet meal to go. As we found out first hand, Ute Lake Ranch offers the great outdoors in spades, with paths, parks, mountain-biking, hiking, hunting, and even horseback riding and a full-service equestrian center planned.

While on the trip we were spoiled by hosts Bruce and Muriel Hamon and their always-attentive Golden Retriever, Cinnamon. Not only is Bruce a partner in Ute Lake Ranch and principal in Hamon Contractors, which is overseeing the development, but he is a true land enthusiast and an avid outdoorsman, equally at home on a dove field or offshore angling. That gave us more than common ground to tell some tales of fins, feathers, and fur over dinner on Friday night. The next day he drove me to the “Outback,” a favorite out back part of the 25,000-acre ranch that features unbelievable vistas and historic points of interest.

RESIDENCES AT UTE LAKE RANCH
We received a thorough tour of the two different residence plans currently being offered at Ute Lake Ranch — the Estate Lots and Eighteen62, the patio homes community.

The Estates at Ute Lake Ranch are one-of-a-kind lots located in the sculptured sandstone bluffs that offer full views of and access to Ute Lake. Perhaps the most sought after lots currently available in the Southwest, each lakefront custom home site ranges from 1.5- to 5-acre parcels and prices start in the $200,000s.

Eighteen62 at Ute Lake Ranch speaks to that promise of long ago. It will embrace the spirit of community that gave hope to the early settlers, while at the same time laid the foundation of a legacy to leave to future generations. The quality-crafted patio homes with lots starting at $67,500 will offer views of the golf course and the lake as they are carefully positioned throughout the Nicklaus Design championship golf course.

A decidedly contemporary community that has not abandoned its historical roots, Ute Lake Ranch is steeped in the history and romance of a West once far gone but never forgotten. The assurance of land that was granted to the pioneers in the Homestead Act of 1862 was a gift that spoke to the soul of the people – and that was the need to put down roots, to have a place to call your own. We think Ute Lake Ranch would be a great place to put down roots.

The development is just minutes away from I-40, the area’s main highway artery, a little over an hour from the International Airport in Amarillo, Texas; 193 miles from Santa Fe, New Mexico; and just 375 miles from Denver.

ABOUT THE DEVELOPERS
Carma US, a developer of residential master-planned communities, and Ute Lake Ranch, Inc. are jointly developing the Ute Lake Ranch golf and resort community, Carma has developed more than 80 master-planned communities in the U.S. and Canada over the past 50 years. Since 1958, Carma’s purpose and passion has been developing communities that people love to live, play, and work in.

The joint venture partners have signed an operating agreement with JC Resorts of San Diego, CA, which will oversee construction and operation of the community’s Nicklaus Design championship golf course and other resort amenities. JC Resorts is a leading resort operator in Southern California offering the finest accommodations, golf courses and customer service. Ute lake Ranch will be JC’s first resort outside of Southern California.

Please visit www.utelakeranch.com or call 877-UteLake (883-5253)

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