Why is one billionaire buying up everything he can in Teton Valley?
Co-owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers is snatching up residential land at an alarming rate
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — A billionaire and part-owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers football team is snatching up land in Teton Valley at an alarming rate and residents there are worried about the implications.
Wall Street Journal and Deseret News are reporting Thomas Tull, 51, began buying up desirable real estate in the Teton County Idaho area in 2021. His latest confirmed purchase was the Teton Ridge Ranch—a 4,000-acre spread in Tetonia once owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
According to reports, residential real estate transactions in Teton County Idaho have nearly quadrupled since the pandemic. Paul Kelly, a real estate agent in Driggs, said, “People would pay anything for anything.”
The market is red hot and on the rebound since it bottomed out in 2008. Kelly says a 5-acre parcel near Driggs that cost $89,000 at the end of 2020 sold for $795,000 in April 2021.
Tull has been one of the more active buyers in the area, spending an estimated $30M to acquire more than 3,000 acres so far. Tull’s spending spree has been a topic of conversation in Teton Valley as electeds and residents alike wonder if it is such a good thing for one person to control so much land.
