JACKSON — A company owned by Ross Perot Jr. has bought a 1,374-acre ranch, half of which will be turned into a development of 17 properties of 35-50 acres each.The remaining 675 acres of the Mead family’s Bar BC Ranch in Spring Gulch will continue to be leased to the Meads for use as grazing land.The purchase price is being kept confidential, the Jackson Hole News and Guide reported recently.The purchase was made by Perot’s Hillwood development company and Hillwood Bar BC Land & Cattle completed the deal Friday. Perot celebrated on Monday with a reception at the Snake River Grill.David Hicks, senior vice president for Hillwood, said three lots have already sold. Each property, he said, will have a county-approved building zone of 2.4-4 acres plus water, electricity and phone service.Hicks said that Hillwood is improving wildlife habitat to compensate for the development, such as by cutting dead and beetle-infested trees on West Gros Ventre Butte.Perot Jr., 45, is the son of billionaire Ross Perot, 74, who ran for president in 1992 and 1996.
Ross Perot Jr. said Monday it will take several years to determine the fate of 675 acres of meadows in Spring Gulch he purchased from the Mead family on Friday.Perot finalized the purchase of the 1,374-acre ranch and celebrated Monday by hosting a reception at Snake River Grill. His company, Hillwood, will development and sell 17 exclusive lots or ranches, each between 35 and 50 acres. Hillwood Bar BC Land & Cattle will lease the meadow property to the Mead family for continued grazing.Perot, who said Hillwood’s senior vice president David Hicks found the property, called the Bar BC a fabulous piece of land. A frequent visitor to the valley, he said he walked the slopes of Hansen Peak, also known as West Gros Ventre Butte, and was enchanted.”I was struck that every lot was outstanding,” Perot said.Plans call for the 17 lots to be obscure, he said. “It’s so low-profile and sensitively situated, few people [who drive by] will realize it’s developed.”The fate of the Spring Gulch pasture land, the heart of the Mead Ranch, in northern Spring Gulch remains uncertain, however. While Hillwood has talked with the Jackson Hole Land Trust, no easement has been granted or filed to prevent development on the floor of the gulch.Perot said it would take several years to decide what will be done with the property. Hillwood representatives have said they hope it will remain open; developers would like to see a single conservation buyer.But what happens depends on market forces, Perot said, plus the wishes of the 17 buyers of the lots now for sale.Perot, with a reputation for bare-knuckled business deals in Texas, said this development is different for Hillwood. While it has a resort in Hawaii, “We’ve never done a mountain resort development,” he said.Regarding the future of the meadow land, “We’re very open-minded,” Perot said.Hicks said Monday three lots already have sold. As Hicks said, however, buyers are remaining low-key.Four warranty deeds were recorded this week at the Teton County Clerk’s office transferring property from Hillwood. One was to Grosvenor Investments, a Nevada limited partnership c/o David Yeager of Arvada, Colo. Another to Teton Ranch Limited Liability Partnership also has Yeager as an agent. The other two deeds went to Rocking J LLC of Austin, Ind.. and Whispering River LLC of Tesque, N.M.Perot said he has not picked out a lot. He said his wife is usually deeply involved in such business and suggested she had not yet visited the property.While he did not commit to a homesite, “I know Jackson Hole fairly well,” he said.Hillwood bought the ranch from Brad, Matt and Muffy Mead, children of Mary Mead who died in a riding accident in 1996. The Meads are grandchildren of Cliff and Martha Hansen; Cliff was Wyoming governor and U.S. Senator from Wyoming.Estate taxes, the increasing difficulty of ranching in Jackson Hole, and a deisre to share their inherintance pushed the decision to sell, Brad Mead said earlier.”It was a difficult decision and it was one that took a long time for us to come to grips with,” Mead said Tuesday. “On balance, I think that we feel grateful and optimistic that this is going to work out well.”Price of the deal remains confidential, as do the price of the first lots purchased. Sources in the real estate industry said earlier this year that the listed price was $110 million.Peter Moyer, a Jackson attorney who has been critical of some types of development in the valley, said plans for the Bar BC do not bother him.”High end is part of the mix in the valley,” he said. “My problem is when you get too much of it and it gets to be dominant. The way Brad Mead and his family is doing it is the way to do it.”Mead said he wasn’t making any grand changes in life. “I will keep practicing law and keep raising cows,” he said.Realtor Tom Evans of Sotheby’s International handled the sale. He said there was lots of interest in the property. Ultimately, there was one buyer who met the Meads’ vision to limit development and seek preservation of the meadows.”I had people who wanted to develop it in mass planned unit development,” Evans said. “We had lots of buyers buyers who wanted to take it to the county hammer against the wall” of public opposition that was bound to arise.Evans said he would not commit to a buyer on the condition the county approve a development plan. In selling lots 35 acres or larger, Hillwood avoided subdivision regulations and public hearings. It did get approval for various plans for homesites, infrastructure improvements and environmental mitigation, Hicks said.Hicks said if the development has a security gate, it would be away from the Spring Gulch Road. “Security is important to us,” he said of Hillwood and its clients.Dave Spackman, who, along with Evans, is a Sotheby’s listing agent for the lots, said he has not seen more beautiful land. “It looks like your looking [at the Grand] through a magnifying glass,” he said.
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming – Hillwood has purchased the historic 1,374-acre Bar BC Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming from the Mead family. Located in the valley known as Spring Gulch a pastoral agricultural area north of the town of Jackson, the ranch is situated at the confluence of the Snake and Gros Ventre Rivers. The property is habitat for the abundance of wildlife that are found in Jackson Hole including elk, deer, moose and bear.The property will be developed with sensitivity to the habitat and historic agricultural use. Approximately 700 acres of the property will be divided into 35- to 50-acre homesites with vistas that include open pastures, the Snake and Gros Ventre rivers and the Teton Mountain Range. The remaining acreage will remain active as a ranch with grazing cattle and hay meadows.”Bar BC Ranch is one of the most magnificent pieces of property in the country,” said David Hicks, Senior Vice President of Hillwood Capital and a Teton County homeowner. “Hillwood will offer a limited number of premier ranch home sites with a true western feel while maintaining the rustic character and pristine beauty of Spring Gulch. The Bar BC Ranch combines the seclusion and privacy of the wilderness with close proximity to the town of Jackson, Jackson Hole Airport and Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis.”In addition to working with the local agencies to maintain the integrity of the land, Hillwood also took the unique step of collaborating with those authorities to design and obtain approvals for building envelopes on each ranch in which each owner has to construct their home.Located adjacent to the permanently preserved 1,800-acre Walton Ranch, the Bar BC Ranch (www.barbcranch.com) offers one ranch along the Snake River, two ranches along the Gros Ventre River and 14 ranches on the West Gros Ventre Butte.With its diverse background of development experience, Hillwood was able to draw on the expertise of its Hillwood Residential group, which is one of the largest single-family community developers in Texas, and its Hillwood Land & Cattle group, which primarily oversees the company’s ranching operations on 18,000 acres in North Texas.Hillwood, a Perot company, is ranked as one of the top commercial real estate developers in the country and the top residential developer in Dallas-Fort Worth. The company is best known for its development of the 15,000-acre AllianceTexas project located 15 miles northwest of DFW Airport, the $420-million American Airlines Center and Victory district near downtown Dallas and more than 14,000 single-family lots in North Texas. In addition to Bar BC Ranch, Hillwood’s newest projects are AllianceCalifornia in San Bernardino, DeSoto Trade Center in Southaven, Miss., part of the greater Memphis, Tenn. market, and Crossroads Trade Center in DeSoto, Texas.# # #Contact: David Pelletier (817/224-6044)dave.pelletier@hillwood.com
Ross Perot Jr. on Monday hosted a reception to celebrate his company purchasing the Mead family Bar BC Ranch in Spring Gulch three days after the deal closed.Perot’s Hillwood development company and Hillwood Bar BC Land & Cattle completed the purchase of the 1,374-acre ranch Friday. The development company has created 17 “ranches” between 35 and 50 acres each on 700 acres of the property – mostly on West Gros Ventre Butte. The cattle company is leasing 675 acres of meadows to the Meads for their continued use as grazing land.”We have no current development plans for the meadow and the Meads will lease it from us to continue their cattle operation,” said David Hicks, senior vice president for Hillwood.Hicks said the purchase price of the property, listed with Sotheby’s International Realty, remains confidential. Three lots or ranches already have been sold, he said.Plans call for construction of about five miles of road plus development of water, electricity and telephone service to each lot. Each property contains a county approved building envelope of between 2.4 and 4 acres.Hicks said that Hillwood is improving wildlife habitat to compensate for development. Among the programs is one to cut dead and beetle-infested trees to invigorate the condition of forests on the butte.Also part of the program is an effort to reduce wildfire danger to homesites. Hillwood may do helicopter logging on the butte later this fall and next spring and summer to achieve its goals. Parts of the hill are too steep to log other ways. Hicks said the company is seeking a federal grant to help fund portions of that project.Because of the number of workers expected on the site this fall, hunting will not be permitted on the ranch. Fifteen of the lots are on the butte, also known as Hansen Peak, and two are situated on the Gros Ventre River.”Bar BC Ranch is one of the most magnificent pieces of property in the country,” said Hicks, a Teton County homeowner. “Hillwood will offer a limited number of premier ranch home sites with a true western feel while maintaining the rustic character and pristine beauty of Spring Gulch. The Bar BC Ranch combines the seclusion and privacy of the wilderness with close proximity to Jackson, Jackson Hole Airport and Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis Club.”
Jackson Hole News & Guide03/05/04
PEROT INKS GULCH DEAL Hansen descendants agree to sell 1,300 acres to Dallas business mogul. By Angus M. Thuermer Jr.A development company owned by Ross Perot Jr. has contracted with the Mead family to buy approximately 1,300 acres of the Lower Bar B C Ranch in Spring Gulch.Brad Mead, one of three family members who owns the Bar B C, also known as the Mead Ranch, said it could take some time for the sale to close. A representative for Perot’s Hillwood real estate development company, David Hicks, on Monday night confirmed the contract and said the ranch would be turned into a low-density residential project where cattle operations would continue. He said lots would be at least 35 acres and their layout would allow ranching on the valley floor.Hicks, who owns a home at Teton Pines, said the Dallas-based company is sensitive to community desires to preserve Spring Gulch, one of the last undeveloped tracts of ranch land in Jackson Hole. He said representatives have already spoken to the Jackson Hole Land Trust, one of the county’s leading preservation groups.”We’re very much aware of the feelings the Land Trust has and others have toward Spring Gulch,” Hicks said. “That’s what we intend to do in terms of Hillwood’s purchase of the Bar B C Ranch.”Brad Mead owns the property along with his brother, Matt, the U.S. District Attorney in Cheyenne who ranches near Laramie, and their sister, Muffy Mead-Ferro, an advertising copywriter and creative director who lives in Salt Lake City. Brad Mead said he believes the purchase will allow ranching to continue. “I expect to be raising cows up there in the foreseeable future,” he said.In addition to the hay meadows in the bottom of Spring Gulch, approximately half the property is on West Gros Ventre Butte. That upland is less valuable as agricultural land but important to wildlife, including a small herd of elk.Hicks said that while Hillwood might be allowed to develop 40 or more parcels on the ranch under county zoning rules, the company’s plans “wouldn’t be anywhere close to that.” Sources in the real estate community said 17 lots are planned.”We plan to keep the feel and appearance of the Bar B C Ranch,” he said. “We plan to continue a ranching operation there. We will work with the county on permitting this and getting their approval. We’re not going to try and go back and replat,” to a density greater than 35-acre parcels, he said.Perot, 45, is the CEO of Perot Systems and son of the self-made billionaire who twice ran for president. Hillwood is privately owned.Hicks said Perot Jr. has been to Jackson Hole and has friends and business associates here. They are among the CEOs of Forbes Fortune 500 companies, and similar types. “Jackson Hole is on a number of their radar screens,” Hicks said.Hillwood will sell “the finest homesites ever offered in Teton County,” Hicks said. ” As such, they’re going to attract an individual with high net worth who will value security, seclusion.”The ranch’s proximity to the Gros Ventre and Snake Rivers, Jackson Hole Airport and Jackson Hole Golf & Tennis Club make it ideal, Hicks said. It also has views of the Tetons from some locations and is next door to Grand Teton National Park.”You have some amenities there,” Hicks said.Neither Hicks nor Mead would reveal the contracted sale price. Sources in the real estate industry said last summer when the ranch was put on the market that it listed for $110 million. The Mead family decided not to restrict development on the property when putting it up for sale, but neither Mead nor Hicks would say what vehicle would assure continued ranching.Jackson Hole Land Trust staff attorney Tim Lindstrom said he had talked to Hillwood last year. “I’m hopeful what Brad said will come about,” he said.While Hicks said Hillwood has undertaken a high-end development on Maui, its bread and butter has been urban and industrial projects. Preserving pasture land has not always been a priority.Perot Jr. got his start developing 2,500 acres of his family’s pasture land in the Dallas/Fort Worth area into an industrial airfield, warehouses and factories known as Alliance, according to an article in Business Week. Privately held, but developed with the help of $152 million in public funds, the complex now covers 15,000 acres, is home to more than 100 companies and a NASCAR speedway.The company Web site said Hillwood’s largest project combines the commerce center of Alliance with the rural setting of the Circle T Ranch and the wired community of Heritage into “one master-planned community where people can live, work and play.”In 1996 Perot bought the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and used it as leverage to ask the city to put up $125 million for a downtown revitalization project, Business Week reported. The new American Airlines Center arena also is home to the Dallas Stars National Hockey League team. Hicks called the complex “the finest arena in the country.”Surrounding the venue is Victory, a 70-acre complex with seven million square feet of high-density retail, residential, and office space in downtown Dallas. Public funding was narrowly secured by referendum that imposed a tax on hotel rooms and rental cars.In the Business Week article, author Andrew Park called Perot “one of the most formidable developers in Texas.” Hillwood specializes in megaprojects “requiring big backers, political muscle, and piles of public dollars.” A hallmark of the firm is the elder Perot’s “famously stern policies,” the story said.”It’s the kind of company that only someone with a name like Perot could run,” Park wrote in his 2002 profile.While Hillwood might be a juggernaut of development, it also is responsible for one of every 15 jobs in the Fort Worth area, a company study said. Hicks said Hillwood can respond to community priorities.”We’re just a very environmentally sensitive company,” he said.The Mead Ranch in Spring Gulch abuts other large ranches, including property owned by the Lucas family and descendants of Paul Walton, some of which is preserved by conservation easement. To the south lies the Hansen Ranch, home of the Meads’ grandparents, Cliff and Martha Hansen. Cliff Hansen is a former Wyoming Governor and U.S. Senator. His ranch was not part of the sale.The family has been ranching in Jackson Hole for more than 100 years, and Brad Mead was the fourth generation in his family to trail cattle north from Spring Gulch to summer pasture in Grand Teton National Park. In 1897 Mead’s great grandfather, Peter Christofferson Hansen, homesteaded land in Spring Gulch.Spring Gulch has been the target of conservation efforts, and about 1,500 acres have been protected by scenic easements that restrict development. The gulch area between East and West Gros Ventre buttes is made up of perhaps 5,000 acres of private ranch land.The Meads inherited the ranch following the death of their mother, Mary, in a riding accident in 1996. Estate taxes and the increasing difficulty of ranching in Jackson Hole helped push the decision to sell, Mead said earlier. Also, sale of the property was the only way the descendants could share equitably in their inheritance.Respond to this article by e-mailing editor@jhnewsandguide.com