One lucky buyer will have the opportunity to own an entire ghost town in Texas, USA, for a bargain price of $100,000.
A man named Alexander Bardorff bought the 10-acre town of Lobo along with some friends in 2001 for $20,000. Bardorff said more than 70 people have already gone down there in hopes of making the purchase. He sat under the gas station structure in town and listened to every person who made the journey to this corner of West Texas – each casting a vision for its future.
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Bardorff, who was born in Germany, said the sale wasn’t for the money, but rather to find someone who “understands how special the land he fell in love with is.”
“It’s hard for me to give up,” Bardorff told the Wall Street Journal. “To some of the potential buyers I say, ‘It’s like Lobo is my baby or our baby and we want to find new good parents.’”
“Do you respect what I call the soul of the Wolf?” he added. “You can have a camp anywhere.”
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The town has an empty swimming pool, motel, grocery store, restaurant and post office — all now defunct — as well as empty homes, according to the listing.
One of the vacant houses has a living room, three bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, screened porch and storage room of 800 square meters.
But it has a working water pump that runs hot and cold water,
Over time, the town expanded, but after its last resident left in 1991, Lobo remained empty until Bardorff and his friends turned it into an arts hub, hosting art installations, film festivals, and music performances.
“Just being here kind of slows down time,” potential buyer Andrea Alvarez told the Journal.
Lobo’s history dates back to the mid-19th century, when it served as a stopover on the mail route from San Antonio to San Diego.
Potential buyers presented a wide range of ideas for Lobo’s future, including a kangaroo farm, a nudist colony and an escape room-style attraction where people escape the city, not just a room.
Lobo has a peaceful desert landscape and is located between Van Horn, home of Jeff Bezos’ space company, and Marfa, its own art hub known for its empty Prada store.
A musician envisions desert-inspired art and music as the focus of the city.
Others contemplate building a super-powered radio tower or establishing sustainable agriculture and rental properties.
Bardorff and two other buyers will decide who will be the winning bidder.
The deadline to bid the city is June 24th.
“It’s the dream, you know,” said Jennifer Ficke, Alvarez’s aunt. “The opportunity to say, ‘Oh, I bought a city.’ Not many people can say that.”
While this isn’t the first ghost town to hit the market, it’s certainly the cheapest. An Arizona ghost town complete with a renovated warehouse is for sale for $1.1 million. Recently, a mystery buyer shelled out over $22.5 million for a California ghost town.
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