Business

$268 Million Ranch For Sale Near Big Bend National Park Is ‘Half The Size Of Rhode Island’

July 16, 2023

Topline

Brewster Ranches—a 424,000-acre ranch near Big Bend National Park and Black Gap Wildlife Management Area in western Texas—is home to mountain summits, natural water features, and a variety of wildlife and animals and is currently the most expensive and largest property for sale in Texas, listed at $268 million.

Brewster Ranch in Brewster County, Texas features lower canyons of the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic … [+] River. The property is currently for sale in Texas, listed at $268 million, and is near Big Bend National Park and Black Gap Wildlife Management Area.

Key Facts

The ranch first appeared on the Texas market in 2020 with a $320 million asking price, though the massive property took a 26% cut to get to its current listing price.

Brewster Ranch can be bought as one, or can be sold as seven different, smaller ranches—five of which are for hunting and cattle and two of which are mountain ranches—ranging in price from $10.2 million to $72 million and in acreage from 17,542 acres to 120,444 acres.

Though Brewster Ranch doesn’t top lists of the U.S.’s largest ranches, it is six times the size of the nearby Lely Ranch, which Marfa Public Radio reported was previously thought to be the largest ranch on the Texas market.

Brewster Ranch was put up for sale by Brad Kelley, a Kentucky native and son of a farmer who built a fortune from discount cigarettes; Kelley has owned the land and assembled the mammoth ranch over years.

The property has one major home—Chaney House, a a five-bedroom, four-bath Spanish hacienda with a courtyard—that was built in the 1970s and sits on a hill overlooking the San Francisco Creek, one of the main water features on the ranch, listing agent James King told Forbes, adding there are several smaller homes on the ranch, too; the property also has an airstrip and hangar, the Dallas Morning News reported.

The ranch property is assembled from almost 30 different properties that have been “carefully acquired over decades to include some of the most amazing and important habitats and land features” outside of Big Bend, according to the ranch’s brochure.

Forbes Valuation

Forbes estimates Kelley is worth $2.5 billion, making him the 1,248th richest person in the world today.

Big Number

662. That’s how many square miles Brewster Ranches covers in Brewster County, Texas. The massive chunk of land is home to almost 1,000 head of cattle on the ranch, along with desert bighorn sheep, birds, raptors, desert mule deer, javelinas, and black bears.

San Francisco Creek runs through Brewster Ranch, the $268 million property for sale in Brewster … [+] County, Texas. The property was first listed in 2020 for $320 million, but has since dropped significantly.

Surprising Fact

Even though it’s the priciest piece of property for sale in Texas right now, it isn’t the biggest the state has seen. King Ranch in southeastern Texas covers a whopping 825,000 acres in land and has 35,000 cattle and over 200 quarter horses, according to its site.

The property has one major home—Chaney House, a a five-bedroom, four-bath Spanish hacienda with a … [+] courtyard—that was built in the 1970s and sits on a hill overlooking the San Francisco Creek.

The Brewster Ranch property is assembled from almost 30 different ranches that have been “carefully … [+] acquired over decades to include some of the most amazing and important habitats and land features.”

Though Brewster Ranch doesn’t top lists of the U.S.’s largest ranches, it is six times the size of … [+] the nearby Lely Ranch, which Marfa Public Radio reported was previously thought to be the largest ranch on the Texas market.

Tangent

The property is the largest to be on the Texas market since 2016 when billionaire Stan Kroenke, owner of Arsenal Holdings, Arsenal F.C., and Arsenal W.F.C., bought the 520,000-acre W.T. Waggoner Ranch; the purchase price was unknown, but Forbes reported at the time that if it was near the $725 million price tag, it was likely the most expensive ranch to ever sell in the United States.

Brewster Ranch in Brewster County, Texas has views of Housetop Mountains among the features of its … [+] 424,000 acres. The ranch is also home to bighorn sheep, birds, raptors, desert mule deer, javelinas, and black bears.

Brewster Ranch has one major home—Chaney House, a a five-bedroom, four-bath Spanish hacienda with a … [+] courtyard—on the Dagger Flatts portion of the ranch that was built in the 1970s and sits on a hill overlooking the San Francisco Creek.

The lower canyons of the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River run through Brewster Ranch, offering just … [+] one of a number of the ranch’s water features.