Yellowstone Club, Big Sky, MT (Weiskopf)

[Steve_ Shaffer]

The economy is back! Business is booming at the club. :

The club was originally the brainchild of Tim Blixseth, who pieced together more than 100,000 acres of undevelopable timberland and swapped it for land on the back side of Big Sky Resort. By the mid-2000s, lots at Yellowstone Club were selling for seven figures and membership had grown to include hedge fund managers, professional athletes and captains of industry.

The club’s financial woes stemmed from a loan to Mr. Blixseth and his wife at the time, Edra, that “they never should have gotten,” Mr. Byrne said, referring to a $375 million loan that Credit Suisse syndicated in 2005.

Mr. Blixseth put the club up as collateral but, as was allowed under the loan’s terms, used most of the proceeds for other purposes, including an unsuccessful effort to assemble luxury properties around the world for an ultraexclusive vacation club. In October 2008, the Blixseths divorced, with Ms. Blixseth assuming ownership of the club and its debt. When the club filed for bankruptcy a month later, it was losing $20 million a year between operating expenses and debt servicing.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/12/31/huge-ski-resort-for-the-rich-is-bouncing-back/?ref=business

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/14/business/14yellow.html

http://yellowstoneclub.com/golf

[Dan Kelly]

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/12/31/huge-ski-resort-for-the-rich-is-bouncing-back/?ref=business

Put this one in the time capsule.

The archaeologists will be interested, someday.

[Tom_Doak]

I'm curious why a thread about a real estate project for the ultra rich is germane here [other than the human tendency to go googly-eyed over such big numbers].

Yellowstone Club's golf course is only open for play about 3 months a year, and I'm not sure there's a single person reading Golf Club Atlas who could afford to join.

[PCCraig]

Well...going further off-topic on an off-topic thread, a buddy texted me yesterday who is staying there now that Phil Michelson has been hanging out skiing there this past week.

I've heard that the golf course is pretty average, but the rest of the facilities are incredible

[Steve_ Shaffer]

@Tom Doak
"
I'm not sure there's a single person reading Golf Club Atlas who could afford to join. "

The same can be said for Sebonack, Friars Head and many other high end courses at clubs FREQUENTLY mentioned here.  If you do a search here, many members of GCA- writers,raters or guests- have played Yellowstone and many of these high end courses. If there's a golf course somewhere, someone here will find a way to get on it and critique it here. And, of course, there are clubs that many wealthy people could not join because they don't have the right connections.

[Tom_Doak]

@Tom Doak
"
I'm not sure there's a single person reading Golf Club Atlas who could afford to join. "

The same can be said for Sebonack, Friars Head and many other high end courses at clubs FREQUENTLY mentioned here.  If you do a search here, many members of GCA- writers,raters or guests- have played Yellowstone and many of these high end courses. If there's a golf course somewhere, someone here will find a way to get on it and critique it here. And, of course, there are clubs that many wealthy people could not join because they don't have the right connections.

Well, yes, but we talk about those GOLF COURSES, not about the people who think their property at Yellowstone Club is worth $3 billion.

[Joel_Stewart]

I'm curious why a thread about a real estate project for the ultra rich is germane here [other than the human tendency to go googly-eyed over such big numbers].

Yellowstone Club's golf course is only open for play about 3 months a year, and I'm not sure there's a single person reading Golf Club Atlas who could afford to join.

And this course has been discussed numerous times (starting in 2005)  if anyone would use the search function.

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,16259.0.html

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,33695.0.html

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,33695.0.html

http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,38861.0.html

[Steve Lapper]

@Tom Doak
"
I'm not sure there's a single person reading Golf Club Atlas who could afford to join. "

The same can be said for Sebonack, Friars Head and many other high end courses at clubs FREQUENTLY mentioned here.  If you do a search here, many members of GCA- writers,raters or guests- have played Yellowstone and many of these high end courses. If there's a golf course somewhere, someone here will find a way to get on it and critique it here. And, of course, there are clubs that many wealthy people could not join because they don't have the right connections.

Well, yes, but we talk about those GOLF COURSES, not about the people who think their property at Yellowstone Club is worth $3 billion.

Guys,

  I'm sure no less than a few GCA'ers have played the Yellowstone Club course (fwiw.. I have and it's little more than a nice member's course, far from Weiskopf's best).  Any meaningful discussion of its merits on this board isn't going to be a long one. Additionally, I rather doubt the $3B number was accurate, instead more likely a P.R./marketing inspired exagerration designed to inflate the egos of its owners, their ever-so-dumb bank lenders and those assorted characters swimming like remora fish attached to the Blixeths.  Back in 2008, that was an identifiable trend among resort properties.

  As previously mentioned, the surrounding area and facilities are indeed impressive and the skiing is reputed to be fantastic. Ultimately, the skiing property and it's value is what convinced distressed buyers to purchase the debt from the schnooks at Credit Suisse.

  What is more interesting, in my estimation, is that the Y Club might well be the absolute contemporary example of an operating microcosm for income inequality. Without taking sides, I find it fascinating that stories like this serve to remind us of what the "haves" are doing behind their elevated fences. Is this much different from the wave of RE porn that was so prevalent in so many publications from 2006-2008?

[Tom_Doak]

  What is more interesting, in my estimation, is that the Y Club might well be the absolute contemporary example of an operating microcosm for income equality. Without taking sides, I find it fascinating that stories like this serve to remind us of what the "haves" are doing behind their elevated fences. Is this much different from the wave of RE porn that was so prevalent in so many publications from 2006-2008?

That's what I meant to say.  Thanks.

[Tim Gavrich]

  What is more interesting, in my estimation, is that the Y Club might well be the absolute contemporary example of an operating microcosm for income equality. Without taking sides, I find it fascinating that stories like this serve to remind us of what the "haves" are doing behind their elevated fences. Is this much different from the wave of RE porn that was so prevalent in so many publications from 2006-2008?

That's what I meant to say.  Thanks.

I recall pretty much an entire issue of Executive Golfer being devoted to the Blixseths sometime around the Yellowstone Club's opening. It might as well have been a profile on L. Ron Hubbard written by a Scientology exec. How gaudy that seems now.

To somewhat reel this back in toward GCA, does Weiskopf hold the title for highest average initiation fee among his private course designs, among modern architects? Higher than Fazio, even? Double Eagle, Kukui'ula, Loch Lomond and Yellowstone have to help his average.

[RJ_Daley]

Steve, you sure seem to have your finger on the pulse of these Golf-R.E. developments, sales, and restructures, with a take that is always interesting to read.   

[JMEvensky]

Steve, you sure seem to have your finger on the pulse of these Golf-R.E. developments, sales, and restructures, with a take that is always interesting to read.   

Just a guess,but I'd bet we might get 1% of what he knows. The other 99% would sure be fun to read.

[Craig Sweet]

Mr Blixseth recently spent a couple of nights in Missoula....

http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/court-orders-release-of-jailed-real-estate-mogul/image_a388d0df-8319-5142-8441-319f26b55e7a.html

[RJ_Daley]

It seems the fellow has an affinity for exclusive enclaves,  behind the walls, away from the general public.