Kanye West, Kim Kardashian Reportedly Buy Enormous Wyoming Ranch
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When Kim Kardashian West was interviewed — by her husband, naturally — for the cover story in this month’s issue of Vogue Arabia, she was asked to describe where she sees herself in ten years. The L.A. native’s answer was somewhat surprising: “living on a ranch in Wyoming,” she said, “and occasionally going to Palm Springs and our home in Los Angeles.”
As it turns out, the reality TV superstar-turned-entrepreneur-turned-law student wasn’t just whistlin’ Dixie. According to TMZ, the Wests have finalized the purchase of an astonishingly pristine spread, the so-called Monster Lake Ranch near the picturesque town of Cody, in northwest Wyoming less than 50 miles from the eastern edge of Yellowstone National Park.
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While it remains unclear whether the sale has officially closed — property records are a somewhat complex matter up in Wyoming — the couple’s acquisition makes perfect sense, as their love for the Equality State has been well-documented. Besides the Vogue Arabia interview, the Wests famously bunked up in Jackson Hole, at the uber-posh Amangani Resort hotel, while Kanye recorded his recent “Ye” album.
This isn’t the first time the Wests have been rumored to be buying an out-of-state property; last year they were widely reported to have purchased a $14 million condo in an exclusive Miami condo building. That transaction, however — if a transaction even existed — was never consummated.
However, the Wyoming acquisition seems far more plausible, and a bit of online reconnaissance reveals plenty of evidence that the Wests did, in fact, acquire at least a portion of Monster Lake Ranch. For one, the previous for-sale listing has been recently scrubbed from just about every local real estate website, a telltale sign that the property has transferred and the buyer(s) are high-profile. One local website, however, happily proclaims the ranch is “SOLD!!” There’s also the fact that Kanye and his friends were recently filmed riding ATVs on the premises.
According to a detailed YouTube video that displays the ranch’s numerous amenities, the land had been scheduled for a July 2019 auction. And though the entire ranch is 4,500 acres — plus an additional 4,500 acres of leased government land — it’s not clear if the Wests actually acquired the entire spread. The compound is currently split into seven distinct parcels, each with their own name (“Big Horn Parcel,” “Quick Lake Parcel,” etc) and each was marketed for sale as a separate estate. Online evidence shows that at least three of the smaller parcels may have been sold to different buyers before the Wests entered the real estate picture.
The largest parcel, however, and the one the couple most likely acquired, is the Monster Lake lot, which spans over 3,000 acres of land and includes a 180-acre private lake stocked with so-called monster trout. The ranch was last listed with a $14 million asking price.
Other Monster Lake features include a ranch-style main house, working horse barn and corrals, two lakeside shacks, a climate-controlled storage and tack room, a cattle ranch with a hay operation, a live-in lake caretaker to watch over the trout, and a bird barn with flight pens that can accommodate up to 1,500 birds. Outside, the property includes its own private mountain range, seemingly endless wide-open spaces, and picturesque views of snowcapped hills on the horizon.
If the Wests also acquired all of Monster Lake’s neighboring parcels, for a total of 4,500 acres, they now additionally hold title to their own restaurant, a saloon, an event building, at least ten cabins, another rugged mountain range, and a second private lake. Big country, indeed.
For the time being, the Wests’ main residence continues to be an exceptionally spacious compound in guard-gated Hidden Hills, Calif., about an hour’s drive northwest of downtown L.A. The property was acquired in three separate transactions for a total of about $25.4 million, and the couple have since spent an additional $20 million — at least — on years of renovations and customizations.
Kanye additionally maintains 318 acres of mostly undeveloped Calabasas wilderness land, where he recently attempted to construct an oddball enclave of Death Star-esque homes. That project ran afoul of the authorities when it was discovered he didn’t actually possess permits for the work; the structures are now apparently in the process of being disassembled.
Records also reveal that Kim — and her mother — own three luxury condos in a brand-new Calabasas retail/residential complex; the multimillion dollar units are all occupied by family members, including her grandmother MJ Campbell and her late father’s cousin Cici Bussey.
Launch Gallery: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian's Monster Ranch in Wyoming
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