A privately held real estate investment company controlled by Denver financier Pat Broe has bought a 284,000-acre ranch in New Mexico for almost $21 million.
Broe’s SI Partners, established in 1991, completed the purchase of The Hubbell Ranch last week. The property’s former owner is Salt River Project, the largest provider of water and electricity to the Phoenix region.
Salt River Project had owned the land for nearly two decades and had intended to mine its coal reserves to fuel a nearby power plant. The company abandoned its plans in 2003 after “realizing it would be cheaper to buy coal on the open market than to build and operate a mine,” spokesman Jeff Lane said. Residents of the Ramah Navajo Indian Reservation, the ranch’s neighbor to the north, also had opposed the mining plans.
Officials of SI Partners did not return calls for comment Monday. However, the company “is probably in the middle of researching how it wants to use the land,” said Ron Morris, a partner of Denver real estate firm Ranch Marketing Associates, which represented SI Partners.
The ranch was never formally listed. SI Partners had simply instructed Morris to “find a huge ranch,” he said. “You don’t really come across ranches this size anymore. We knew Salt River Project wasn’t doing anything with it, so we just knocked on their door and asked to buy it.”
Broe, one of Colorado’s wealthiest and lowest-profile entrepreneurs, is well known for his investment savvy. He formerly co-owned Denver’s historic Union Station, which RTD bought in 2001 for $49.75 million.
In June, The Broe Cos. paid $34.16 million for the 22-story Mile High Center office tower at 1700 Broadway, considered Denver’s first skyscraper.
Staff writer Christine Tatum can be reached at 303-820-1015 or ctatum@denverpost.com.
