by Mike Koshmrl, WyoFile
Billionaire Joe Ricketts has ordered crews to immediately stop construction of his long-planned Sublette County luxury resort, and restore the area to its natural condition.
A project that would have made a tourist destination out of the tiny, sleepy Hoback River basin community of Bondurant has been called off because of protective wildlife stipulations that abbreviated the construction season. Ricketts sought an exemption from the seasonal restrictions, which he claimed in a memo obtained by WyoFile would have increased the cost of building the high-end all-inclusive resort by $60 million to $100 million, but his request was denied.
“While construction of the [resort] in its most basic form was always a limited value or financial investment proposition, the additional costs simply make it prohibitive to continue,” Ricketts’ agent Steve Christensen wrote to Sublette County commissioners. “Consequently, Mr. Ricketts has directed all construction cease and to return the hilltop to its original form — or at least as much as possible.”
The subject line of the July 8 memo was titled, “the End of the Homestead” — the name that Ricketts used for the under-construction facility.
Christensen stated that the project’s end is a “significant economic loss,” costing Sublette County 100 to 150 jobs. “We can only speculate on the full extent of the economic reverberations and consequences,” he wrote in the memo.
Sublette County commissioners did not respond to WyoFile’s request for comment on Tuesday.
Ricketts, whose fortune exceeds $7 billion, had been attempting to push through the resort for years. Largely, the Bondurant community had been opposed to the plans, though there was a showing of support for the TD Ameritrade founder’s project at a public meeting he hosted last year in Pinedale.
At least one Bondurant resident who caught wind of the resort’s demise is skeptical that it’s truly the end of a years-long fight.
“I saw them pull out the rock crusher today, and I’ve seen a lot of trucks moving down the road,” Dan Bailey told WyoFile. “It’s nice news, but I’m unconvinced [it’s over] at this point. We’ll see what happens next.”
This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.
