Mt. Solitude Ranch Listed at $79.9M

OMAHA (DTN) -- On the fringe of San Antonio, Texas, in Bexar County, a 3,630-acre ranch has been on the market for a year without a price tag. Now, it has one.

Mount Solitude Ranch sits nine miles northwest of the city and is listed at $79.9 million, or more than $22,000 per acre, according to a press release from Icon Global, a real estate firm founded by Bernard Uechtritz.

Uechtritz told DTN there's been cattle on the property from time to time, but it's been more of a recreational ranch retreat than an active cattle ranch. The ranch sits in a unique location: just 30 minutes from rapidly growing San Antonio, it borders the Rancho Sierra lands, which are owned by the General Land Office. It's also surrounded by development.

The U.S. Census Bureau rates San Antonio among the nation's fastest-growing cities, many of which are also struggling with urban expansion into historically rural or agricultural lands.

"(The owners) would like to see a family like themselves come in and begin creating a new legacy and new history. They've been good stewards of the ranch for 100 years, a big and diverse family it's hard to have everyone within that family tree be able to enjoy the ranch, so they decided to sell," Uechtritz said.

Historical buildings and compounds on the ranch date back to the 1850s. Now held by the Thompson family, the ranch features hilltops of the highest points in Bexar County, according to current owner Derrick Thompson, a descendant of the property's patriarch R.L. White.

"As I look to the future of this property and whoever is lucky enough to own it, I am both excited and jealous for them because having grown up on this ranch and going to so many events with family and also being able to bring friends out here, it is the memories you can make, you really can't put a price on it," Thompson said in a video listing of the property.

Uechtritz said the owners would "love to find the next private generational stewards to enjoy the ranch, but it is hard to ignore some of the development and conceptual interest that we've looked at."

Icon Global listed the ranch in the summer of 2022, but didn't publish a price until June 15, 2023. Over the past year, they've fielded various development proposals and ideas.

"As we worked through those scenarios, and waited for some other properties to close, we waited for viable life and comfortable market sales. We wanted to let those things happen, worked through all of those, now everyone has a target to shoot at," Uechtritz said. "The tremendous feature regardless of the way it goes -- private development or whether it's enjoyed by another generational family -- that's the versatility of the property it's so valuable, so well positioned," Uechtritz said.

Susan Payne can be reached at susan.payne@dtn.com

Follow her on Twitter @jpusan

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