Dubbed the largest U.S. ranch under one fence, the 510,527-acre W.T. Waggoner Estate Ranch, which sits south of Vernon, Texas, is slated to change ownership for the first time in its history.
The historic Texas ranch is in the process of being acquired for $725 million by businessman and sports owner Stan Kroenke, according to Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty. Kroenke has recently made headlines for his moving of the St. Louis Rams to Los Angeles.
“The selection of Mr. Kroenke and potential sale bring to a close an unprecedented global marketing effort,” said Bernard Uechtritz of Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty, in a recent release. “The sale of the Waggoner was an extraordinarily complex and multi-faceted process.”
The scale and significance of the sale is such that the ranch’s owners had to receive approval from Judge Dan Mike Bird, of the 46th Judicial District Court, before proceeding with the transaction.
Once acquired by Kroenke, the ranch will be integrated into Kroenke Ranches, one of the world’s largest conglomerates of working ranches.
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Texas Ranch has everything you could want
Encompassing nearly 800 square miles and spanning six North Texas counties, the Waggoner ranch is larger than the District of Columbia and is more than half the size of Rhode Island.
Approximately 30,000 acres of the ranch is currently in cultivation, with additional acres suitable to be farmed, according to the properties’ listing data. The ranch is mainly watered by live creeks, large earthen ponds and pivots.
Additionally, there are more than 1,000 producing oil wells on the land. Approximately 41.67 percent of the entire mineral estate will transfer with the sale.
Also included in the sale are all permanent improvements, rolling stock, ranch equipment, oilfield equipment, cattle inventory, horse inventory, horse facilities, brands, intellectual property and the Waggoner office building in Vernon.
The ranch has been owned by the same family since 1849 and features two sets of headquarter compounds, along with 20 scattered, “cowboy camps.” The property also has a number of large livestock working and shipping facilities.
