For $250 million, a Texas lifestyle
Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens’ 65,000-acre ranch in the Texas panhandle, which he’s been assembling piece by piece since 1971, is on the market for a whopping $250 million.
Spanning more than 100 miles, the property known as the Mesa Vista Ranch combines homes, lodges and luxury amenities with plains, man-made lakes and what Pickens describes as “the world’s best quail hunting.”
There are four homes; the biggest, a 33,000-square-foot lodge, sits in a tree-covered area and has a tennis court and golf course.
White oak and stone floors line the lodge's entry, which opens through arched doorways to the living spaces.
Five bedrooms are spread across the interior, which also holds a library with a spiral staircase and a wine cellar.
The 12,000-square-foot “lake house,” finished in 2008, features a cave stone exterior.
The front entry, a metal door with stained-glass inserts, was salvaged from a home once owned by Bing Crosby.
Other structures include the 6,000-square-foot “family house” and the 1,700-square-foot gatehouse. For pets, a kennel complete with a veterinary lab and exercise area can house 40 dogs.
Elsewhere are a two-story pub, a chapel and 20 man-made lakes. A private airport complete with a runway tarmac allows for quick access to air travel.
Sam Middleton of Chas. S. Middleton and Son and Monte Lyons of Hall and Hall hold the listing.
Pickens said in a statement that “selling the ranch is the prudent thing for an 89-year-old man to do.”
The businessman rose to prominence after founding Mesa Petroleum in 1956, and he developed a reputation as a corporate raider in the 1980s after attempted buyouts of Gulf Oil, Phillips Petroleum and Unocal. He’s the chairman of hedge fund BP Capital Management.