Just How Much Is The Yellowstone Club Worth?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Feb 5th 2009 at 6:04PM

The saga of the Yellowstone Club takes another turn. Now the IHT reports that the Wyoming club for the ultra-rich could be sold for $100 million to a Boston financial firm according to documents filed by club attorneys. An affiliate of CrossHarbor Capital Partners LLC would pay $30 million in cash and $70 million in a promissory note for the 13,600 acre club near Yellowstone National Park. The deal comes with a promise that CrossHarbor would also put out $50 million in capital improvements and another $25 million for other expenses. Add that up and you get $175 million a number still far short of what the appraisals of the club have been. At various points it has been valued from $310 million to $780 million.

Times has certainly changed for the Yellowstone Club, an ultra-luxurious retreat for the wealthy including Bill Gates and Dan Quayle which was once to be the site of a single home to sell for $155 million. Now it is more than $400 million in debt. In late 2007 and early 2008 club member Sam Byrne made offers to purchase the club for a reported $455 million. He is the controlling force behind CrossHarbor.

The deal would be contingent on court approval and other purchase proposals and the deal would have to protect members who paid deposits of $250,000 to $300,000 to join the club as well as settling the accounts of local contractors and other vendors still owed money. Hoping for a better offer, club attorneys have asked the bankruptcy judge to push back the February 13 deadline for the club to come up with a reorganization plan. If the club could not find another higher offer within the next couple months then it would accept the CrossHarbor deal. The question remains whether anyone has both the money and the will to take on this wealthy enclave.

The club is currently owned by Edra Blixseth who took over the club after her ex-husband Tim Blixseth turned it over to her as part of their divorce settlement. The Blixseths, once praised for their amicable divorce, have seen their shared holdings split up and several of their other properties are for sale.

Tags: edra blixseth, EdraBlixseth, yellowstone club, YellowstoneClub

Filed under: Real Estate Developments

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Snowninja Feb 6th 2009 5:58PM

Deidre Woollard, you need to get your facts straight. It's hard for anyone to take articles like this seriously when you obviously have no idea about what you are reporting on.

First of all, the Yellowstone Club is in Montana, NOT Wyoming. It's a different state. Second, the Club is 13,400 acres, not 13,600. Lastly, there is a lot more to the Chapter 11 hearing than you are reporting.The way you are writing it sounds like the club will sell for $100 million and that Cross Harbor is just going to assume the $300 million dollar debt to Credit Suisse, without going it going to Chapter 7.

Perhaps you should read a little more before you publish stories like this that people rely on to get accurate information.