SAN ANGELO, TX — The City of San Angelo has an agreement to sell the remaining 20,005 acres of the Ford Ranch. This is the sixth transaction and completes the sale of all of the sprawling 32,800-acre ranch that sits upon three west Texas counties — McCulloch, Concho and Menard. The ranch was once owned by the late Aggie benefactor G. Rollie White. Today’s announcement also concludes the sizable risk the municipality took to secure underground water rights to the Hickory Aquifer.
The City purchased the ranch from the estate of G. Rollie White in 2017. The ranch was then listed for sale by the City in May 2018. The buyer, Lendon Hamlin, who was announced Tuesday after an executive session of the San Angelo City Council, is in the ranching business, with operations centering out of Big Spring, said broker James King, proprietor of King Land and Water.
Back in 2016, the City of San Angelo learned the trust of G. Rollie White was marketing the ranch for sale at an asking price $60 million. This raised concerns that the ranch could be subdivided into tens or even hundreds of separate parcels and landowners. Underneath the ranch were the water rights the City owned and for those rights the City had invested $120 million in pipelines and water treatment facilities starting in 2009. What if, City Attorney Theresa James pondered four years ago, the City had a legal dispute with hundreds of landowners in order to pump water from underneath that land? More troubling was access to the well fields just constructed. Would the City be guaranteed access via roadways to the well field? What if the City wanted to drill more wells, like it has since the Hickory was finished in 2014?
The City announced it was going to purchase and then flip the ranch, and before it flipped the ranch, legal consultants would work with the City to better secure the water rights underneath the sprawling property.
Under the leadership of Mayor Dwain Morrison, the City bid $43 million for the entire ranch and it was accepted. The purchase of the ranch was secured with financing of the purchase was based upon the gross receipts from the Water Department and its enterprise fund.
See Inside the City of San Angelo’s $43 Million Ranch Land Deal.
Sale of the ranch took time and effort, said King. The primary objective was to find one buyer for large swathes land.
“It was hard to find a buyer that wasn’t a developer,” King said. The location, near Brady, was close enough to the metropolitan area of Austin to attract wholesale buyers whose objective was to split the land up into smaller parcels for sale for recreational use. This sale announced today avoids this scenario. King said the buyer is a true Texas rancher.
The sale price is $1385 per acre, bringing the total for this portion of the sale to $27,706,925, less commissions, for the City of San Angelo Water Department.
King said the sale of the ranch was a challenging task but the City of San Angelo staff and council were superb clients. The City held their ground on the price and found the right buyer, he said.
James said the flip was not a windfall for the City but the well field is now properly and legally protected. All well fields and City infrastructure are located on the 20,005 acres sold in this transaction, King said.
There have been five other sales from March 2020 to September 2020:
- $1,279,500 for 853 acres at $1,500 an acre to Riverbend, Texas LLC and High Point Ranch Expansion LLC
- $448,740 for 324 acres at $1,385 per acre to a neighboring property owner
- $1,144,650 for 587 acres at $1,950 per acre to Adam and Kimberly Ellisor
- $3,962,000 for 2,830 acres at $1,400 per acre to Neil Tinsley
- $11,530,400 for 8,236 acres at $1,400 per acre to Korban Ranches LLC
| Buyer | Acres | Price/Acre | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riverbend | 853 | $1,500.00 | $1,279,500.00 |
| Neighbor property owner | 324 | $1,385.00 | $448,740.00 |
| Ellisor | 587 | $1,950.00 | $1,144,650.00 |
| Neil Tinsley | 2830 | $1,400.00 | $3,962,000.00 |
| Korban Ranches | 8236 | $1,400.00 | $11,530,400.00 |
| Lendon Hamlin | 20005 | $1,385.00 | $27,706,925.00 |
| Totals | 32835 | $1,503.33 | $46,072,215.00 |
Adding up all six transactions equals $46,072,215. The City’s gross profit of around $3 million will likely get eaten away by commissions and fees. However, City Attorney Theresa James may argue, how much would City of San Angelo attorneys fees be over years and years to secure City of San Angelo Hickory reservoir water rights had the City not embarked on this land flip?
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