Perot Closes Bar BC Sale

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.”