the Rio Grande. 21701 FM 170, Lajitas, Big Bend National Park, TX 79852-5015. In 1986 he sold his Huntsville-based restaurant chain, Tinsleys Chicken and Rolls, and made millions, and he used part of that haul to put a house on the river just upstream from Lajitas. living in the rusted hull of a bus, near a dirt path leading down to http://www.dallasnews.com. [11] The Robert E. Lee on Traveller statue is on display at the resort. 50% of job seekers rate their interview experience at Lajitas Golf Resort as positive. Carmichael, California, United States. Still, when the sun sets each night, when the dry desert air turns gold and the clouds go from white to purple to orange to gone and a desert rat can put himself to sleep by counting stars, that hard life is worth it. The resort was originally owned by oilman and entrepreneur Clayton Williams Jr. Williams purchased the property in 1983 and developed it into a golf resort. One of the biggest selling points of Lajitas Golf Resort for many, though, is its location right next door to Big Bend Ranch State Park. A motel stood on the same land in the 1980s. Instead, a San Antonio law firm opened one of its large conference rooms to groups representing six would-be buyers, the interested and the curious. Theres a simple story of manners that gets retold on the porch when Lajitas is discussed. He also donated $103,000 to President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. [14], Warren has hosted the Cherokee Music Festival since it began in 2007. The latest auction of Lajitas was marked by considerably less drama than the last one. Mischer never made much money off the place and held onto it mostly out of love. But he insisted that his intention was little substantive change. He married Amy Hudson on June 3, 2010, in Dallas. [17], The Kelcy Warren Foundation supports the Caddo Lake Institution, an organization with the mission of protecting the ecological, cultural and economic integrity of Caddo Lake and its associated wetlands and watershed. Guests can cancel their reservations up to 72 hours prior to arrival for a full refund. A stay at Lajitas Golf Resort is an opportunity to step 100 years back into the history of . Pershing once pursued Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. A post office was established at Lajitas in 1904 and remained in operation until 1939. in the spare beauty of borderlands. the rich never came in large numbers. Suite 2100 Black Jack's Crossing at Lajitas Golf Resort. [], To some drawing a golf flag may seem like a daunting task. [15][16], In 2012, Warren donated $10 million to help build Klyde Warren Park in downtown Dallas. Bill grew up in that Lajitas, in the late fifties and sixties, attending school in Alpine but spending his weekends, holidays, and summers down by the river. 289 on the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America, with an estimated net worth of $3.8 billion. Instead, he paid dearly to learn an age-old lesson: The desert always wins. Local Lajitas, TX STD Testing Centers and CBC, Lipid, Hepatitis, Liver, Hemoglobin A1C, Hormone, Same Day Service, No Doctors Visit/No Insurance Required, All Wellness/Health Testing. Warren said Thursday looking about. Farming along the narrow floodplain of the river served to bring in more families, and by 1912 the town had a store, a saloon, a school with fifty pupils, and a customhouse. I was doctor, vet, lawyer, marriage counselor, pharmacist, and an importer of wax. The course was designed by Lanny Wadkins. In Rexs time Lajitas consisted of the trading post and an old cavalry post that was used as a hunting lodge, and Rex met Mischer when he came out for deer and dove hunts. We offer world class golf on our award Sitemap. It was mounted on a pediment in the middle of the golf courses putting green on Thursday, according to Scott Beasley, who manages the course for Dallas-based WSB Resorts and Clubs. braided. the rich, with an 18-hole bentgrass golf course, upscale restaurants, He collects music memorabilia, and has a collection that includes autographs of Jackson Browne and drumsticks signed by the Eagles. [6], Warren purchased the Roatan Electric Company (RECO) in 2008, where he serves as president and chairman of the board. A crossing into Mexico, closed years ago, once ferried tourists It is located on a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande at San Carlos ford of the old Comanche Trail, in the northern part of the Chihuahuan Desert in southwestern Brewster County. At press time two weeks later, the various parties were still trying to hammer out an agreement, and the door was open for someone else to swoop in and snatch it up. His state-of-the-art gray water filtration system created a wetlands area on the golf course that, along with a 64-acre sanctuary on the river, brought birds to the region not commonly found in the desert. [2], In the 1970s the community had one telephone, and newspapers were delivered one day later than their normal dates. The gas pumps were gone, as were the willow leaves and goat-pen wire. kitchen and outdoor shower -- the woman who says she doesn't have Located just east of Big Bend Ranch State Park, a visit to Lajitas, Texas may leave you wondering: is this a town or a resort? Youre not prepared for what you get.. After Hours Scheduling. He received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1978.[8][3][6]. Thats the way the project was run, as if success was secondary. In 2000, the town and surrounding 25,000 acres was sold at auction to Austin entrepreneur/developer Steve Smith, who completely remodeled the town, attempting to establish an exclusive high end resort for the jet set. And Mischer wanted the place to be fun. He started his career working for the Lone Star Gas Company. His dad, Rex, a Brewster County commissioner, owned Lajitas for nearly thirty years before selling it to Mischer in 1977. Who Owns Lajitas Golf Resort by Joshua|Published August 25, 2019 The Lajitas Golf Resort is a full-service golf resort and spa located in the Big Bend region of West Texas. Had he really sprayed a compound on the ground in front of the Lajitas boardwalk that would keep dust from kicking up? [2][3][6] From 1981 to 1992, he worked for Endevco. Compare luxury resorts and resort hotels in Lajitas with Rent By Owner In any event, last summer Lajitas borrowed $12.5 million from a financial house in Connecticut. In the summer of 2003, Smith opened a remodeled trading post complete with air-conditioning, indoor baos, and a wine-and-coffee bar. No spam, ever. Nine of the 92 rooms were full, not including Mr. Warren's Its not the Grand Canyon, where you park your car, walk to the edge, take a picture, and then say, Okay, lets go to California now. Big Bend tourists want an active part in whats going on. There was laughter from the table but not from the waitress. His ambition grew ever more glorious by the day: eight hundred residential lots of two acres or less, some selling for as much as $1 million, undeveloped; two championship golf courses, not desert-style, with grass growing only on greens and tees, but with a lush wall-to-wall carpet that would need a million gallons of water a day to stay green in summer months; an RV park with $100,000 slips for $500,000 motor homes; a 36,000-square-foot spa; four fancy restaurants; an amphitheater seating three thousand; an equestrian center; a hunting club. Scott Beasley, whose company WSB Resorts and Clubs manages Lajitas among other businesses and properties, said he is committed to having the resort show a profit in 2017 - if not sooner. As he walked off I noticed that he was stooped and relying on a cane. Locals speculated that he was struggling financially, and the monthly Big Bend Gazette reported that Lajitas was not the only Smith-related enterprise to recently declare bankruptcy. And the recollection of that night is one of the reasons there will be no pour-out on the porch for the death of Smiths vision. The elevation of the course is 3500 feet. But we also know that they expect more than Kelloggs and Minute Maid. It is named for his son. By the mid-1980s, Lajitas became a resort town with 15 businesses serving 50 people. But he also waves his cowboy hat over his head and yells yeehaw like Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove whenever he flies it into the Trans-Pecos. And frankly, I dont think Smith even knows. The Lajitas Golf Resort and Spa is a 20,000-acre golf resort business in Lajitas owned by Texas businessman Kelcy Warren, who bought the resort from previous owner Steve Smith while the business was going through financial distress. Still, Dennis struck me as an odd person to be championing the resorts willingness to act without a game plan. Mountains to a 7,500-foot landing strip surrounded by scrub brush and But after about three quick drinks, she started talking about how the kids she grew up with all called her a traitor for working for Smith. It is at an altitude of 2,200 feet on a bluff overlooking the Rio Grande at the San Carlos ford of the old Comanche Trail, in the northern part of the Chihuahuan Desert and at the southern extreme of the Rocky Mountains. Your News. At the same time a number of cattle ranches and mining enterprises appeared in northern Chihuahua and Coahuila. In June 2003, Texas Golfer sent a writer to stay at Lajitas for what would be a cover story for the monthly magazine. Remote Lajitas Golf Resort -- which sits very near the Mexican border, some 470 miles west of San Antonio -- is the kind of place where the tee sheet never gets too stacked. While few doubted that Smith genuinely loved the area, they saw no signs that he knew how hard it was to live there. Twelve miles east, on the Terlingua Ghost Town porchthe stretch of cement in front of the come-and-go storefronts where locals gather each evening to watch the Chisos Mountains change colors in the sunsetSmiths Ultimate Hideout, as his marketers called Lajitas, was already being derided as the Ultimate High Doubt. But unlike their city friends who made annual pilgrimages to Big Bend and worried that the new Lajitas would ruin the area, the beer drinkers on the porch watched Smith spend and felt a surprising amount of concern for him. would have millionaires mixing with landscape workers and artists and Rooms cleans yes but lacking. But the place could be friendlier to residents on this side of the river. On Friday, Mr. Warren sealed a $13.5 million deal to buy the He was elected in 1986, and for a time, visiting him was one of the most popular things to do in Lajitas, TX. The lowest recorded temperature at the resort is 10 degrees Fahrenheit. From 1996 to 2000, Warren served as a director of Crosstex Energy, Inc. and from 1993 to 1996, he served as president, chief operating officer and a director of Cornerstone Natural Gas, Inc. Warren has more than 25 years of business experience in the energy industry. On Monday, the sculpture completed a 600-mile journey to Black Jacks Crossing near the border, about a dozen miles from Terlingua. The runway airport has full 100LL and Jet A fuel, complimentary tiedowns down services and offers transportation to the resort. He bought a CD from her and promised When the mines in nearby Terlingua closed in the 1940s, though, Lajitas also became a ghost town, with an estimated population of 4. For Sales Info, Contact: Scott Beasley 214-981-0758 Welcome To LAJITAS GOLF RESORT Lajitas Golf Resort in Lajitas, Texas Tucked away in Texas' historic Big Bend between Big Bend National Park and Big Bend State Park lies Lajitas Resort, the perfect setting for your away-from-it-all adventure. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. He loves it out west. fried steak instead of $50 steaks. For the American football player, see, "Executive Profile - Energy Transfer Partners - Kelcy L. Warren", "List of Public Companies Worldwide, Letter - Businessweek", "Inside Kelcy Warren's Dallas Mansion - WSJ", "College of Engineering at The University of Texas at Arlington", "Kelcy Warren emerges as one of Dallas' bold new philanthropists", "These Billionaires Received Taxpayer-Funded Stimulus Checks During the Pandemic", "The New Forbes Philanthropy Score: How We Ranked Each Forbes 400 Billionaire Based On Their Giving", "John Fogerty, Lyle Lovett, Bruce Hornsby, Jimmy LaFave put on a killer show on Kelcy Warren's ranch in the Texas Hill Country", "Why Kelcy Warren Named a Park For His Son", "Million-Dollar Donors in the 2016 Presidential Race", "Dakota Access pipeline company and Donald Trump have close financial ties", "The Texas Electric Grid Failure Was a Warm-up", "Stealth billionaire lays claim to Woodall Rodgers park naming rights", "Lajitas Resort: Why you better go now - El Paso Inc.: Publishers Column", "REVEALED: One of world's wealthiest men buys Kilkenny mansion for 12.6m - Kilkenny Now - Your City.