A Legendary Oil Tycoon Is Asking $250 Million For His Tricked-Out Ranch. See Inside
In the market for a luxury ranch? T. Boone Pickens’ sprawling Texas Panhandle estate might be your dream home, but the nearly 65,000-acre spread won't come cheap. Purchasing the 100-square-mile Mesa Vista Ranch will set you back some $250,000,000.
“The Mesa Vista has been a labor of love that has occupied the better part of my life,” Pickens wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing the estate's listing last week. The legendary oil tycoon and corporate raider said the sale of the estate after nearly half a century of ownership is “the prudent thing for an 89-year-old man to do.”
“Although the beauty of Mesa Vista remains intact, the ranch roads I have driven thousands of times are now blurred,” Pickens wrote. “It’s time to embrace and accept that my life has changed.”
So, what makes a ranch worth a quarter of $1 billion? Mesa Vista comes complete with a private airport, four houses and a kennel big enough to house 40 dogs, but Pickens says the estate’s biggest draw is its quail hunting. In his announcement, the owner wrote that he “invested millions on wildlife management, programs, and facilities” to make Mesa Vista a quail-hunting destination.
“We have minimal cattle grazing on the ranch, preferring instead to let the land revert to pristine prairie conditions, much as it has been in centuries past,” Pickens wrote. “A substantial portion of the ranch has not been grazed in more than 20 years.”
Prices for an acre of land in Roberts County, where the ranch is located, start at $1000, according to Lubbock ranch broker Sam Middleton. Expansive as Pickens' ranch is, the energy tycoon's asking price equates to almost four times that.
Still that doesn't necessarily mean prospective buyers aren't getting a good value for their $250 million, says Middleton whose real estate company is jointly listing Mesa Vista with Hall & Hall. "That’s raw land with no minerals, no water rights and no improvements," he adds. According to a brochure issued by the agencies, Mesa Vista comes with approximately 42,000 acres of water rights and all of Pickens' mineral interests.
Do all these details have you looking for the “Add to cart” button? Consider contacting a realtor if the following statements apply to you:
-One mansion just isn’t enough: The Lodge, a building with 33,000-square-feet of living space, may be the grandest house at Mesa Vista, but it is far from the only one. The three other homes on the property, the Lake House, the Family House and the Gate House, range in size from approximately 12,000 to 1,700 square feet.
-You really mean it when you say you love dogs: Want to make that dream of adopting the whole shelter a reality? Mesa Vista's 12,000-square-foot kennel has room for 40 dogs and, according to Dallas News, an on-call veterinarian.
-You wish there was an Uber for planes: Bid adieu to layovers, luggage fees and delays with your own personal airport. Chartering your own aircraft means never having to pay extra to bring oversized luggage or all those dogs on board.
-Your gun collection could use a new house, too: You can finally give your massive gun collection the home it deserves. According to Realtor.com, The Gun Room “is a 400-square-foot, wood-frame structure with a limestone exterior on a concrete slab foundation” with its own lounge, bathroom and kitchenette.
-You've always wanted to host weddings: The estate comes with its own chapel where Pickens married his fifth wife, Realtor.com reports.
-You need to step up your game before Wimbledon: The estate’s future owner can practice their serves and swings at the on-site tennis court whenever the mood strikes. More of a putting person? The home has a small golf course, too.
-You care deeply about conservation: Pickens made it clear that conservation is key in Mesa Vista’s future. In his LinkedIn announcement, Pickens wrote of planting or replacing more than 20,000 trees on the property, and said he hopes the property “winds up with an individual or entity that shares my conservation ethic.”
-$250,000,000 is a meager expense: If purchasing Mesa Vista will throw you into debt for the rest of your life, you may want to consider looking for your dream ranch elsewhere.
See more photos from the estate below:
