There Goes Alpine...

[SHANEA]

Alpine must be trying to cash in on the Marfa Boom and the Lajitias land grab.  Was reading the Alpine Avalanche tonight and this popped up!  



What ever happened to those plans to turn Terlingua and Study Butte into a resort area - at one time not long ago there was talk of Forever Resorts opening something up?

[Casa Grande]

holy crap!

one question:  How the hell are all these people who are going to purchase that land for that ungodly amount going to make a living?

[BigBendHiker]

Incredible!  I agree...how will they make a living out there?  Perhaps it is all those with more money than sense who are buying it up.

[MarkB]

Yep. Have seen prices in the $8k-$12k per acre and higher.Land is being purchased by wealthy entrepreneurs from the east coast, and Texas money from Houston and Dallas according to Alpine locals I have spoken to.

[randell]

I was born in Alpine and graduated from high school in Alpine (also lived in Marfa (2nd and 6th grade) and Marathon (first grade) and Sierra Blanca (7-9th grade).  It makes me sick to see this crap.  

My cousin lives in Alpine and his house is worth as much as mine in Houston and his house is about half the size of mine.  Fortunately, he built it years ago when the prices where reasonable.   I still have three aunts who live there, my grandparents live in Marathon, my dad worked the railroad in the area for years (he met my mom when she was riding a horse outside Marathon), my step-grandfather used to chase Mexican bandits across the border on horseback.

I have been keeping track of this stuff and it is, like MarkB said, movie stars "escaping" their own sorry lives, rich folk with their stupid SpacePorts ideas,  artists with their stupid Prada in the Desert, and New Yorkers with their stupid trash.  The founder of Amazon bought over 200,000 acres near Van Horn and is building a space port.  New York is dumping it's sewage in Sierra Blanca.

All the rich have discovered West Texas and are buying huge tracts of land and bumping up the land prices so people like me, who grew up there, cannot afford to live out my dream and retire back there.  

I'll have to post some photos of the view from where we lived just outside Alpine.  I used to  love watching the waterfalls on the mountains when it rained.  

Prada in the Desert
http://www.thefashionspot.com/forums/f60/prada-desert-sculpture-32713.html

Sierra Blanca, the Nation's Largest Trash Dump
http://www.txpeer.org/toxictour/merco.html

Amazon founder plans Texas spaceport
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3083168.html

[chisos muse]

Now this is the stuff that really gets me.....
I guess I'm going to have to save lots of $ now for my little dreamhome.....wasn't planning to live in Alpine, but once those rich peeps find out about stuff it doesn't take long for the word to spread.

[Casa Grande]

you know, i can't imagine that boom lasting long....there are only a select few people who like this place and I think most of us are of the "earth" variety...you know what I mean?  i think the bottom will drop out within the next few years. people will buy it, sit on it, and hope they wind up there someday and don't....at least, i hope.

[BigBendHiker]

Yep...I agree with that comment.  Most people will not go out to areas such as Big Bend or even Alpine because "there is nothing to do".  Of course, we who love Big Bend know they are mis-informed and mis-guided.  

Look at Las Vegas.  The only thing that got that town going was gambling.  Without that, it would still be a wide spot in the highway...

[RichardM]

The founder of Amazon bought over 200,000 acres near Van Horn and is building a space port.  
. . .
Amazon founder plans Texas spaceport
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/3083168.html

Hey, if the spaceport is successful, that'll mean jobs for us space geeks after the shuttle program gets mothballed.

[randell]

True, true.  

I read an article awhile back about a few companies that are having IT workers move to small towns for less pay as an option to having their jobs offshored to India.  It's the same concept as offshoring, except they keep the jobs in the US.

I could definitely move to somewhere closer to the Bend, like Alpine, Ozona, Junction, Ft Stockton, etc and take a 20-30% pay cut living out there in a cheaper house since my main expense now is my house.

This is not the article I read, but is a very similar one:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4496502

[Kchisos]

All this talk of high property values in Alpine is not only depressing, it is true. I've been living in Alpine (off and on, now) for almost 8 years, having moved here from Dallas. And, in fact, for what I paid for my home in Dallas, I couldn't buy 1/3 of the same home here in Alpine.

The Big Land Grab has been creeping up on Alpine and the Big Bend area for quite a few years, but it was 9/11 that gave it a big boost. Independently wealthy retirees and well-to-do families with a knack for entrepreneurial creativity began moving out this way with the excuse of escaping the greater threat of a terorist attack in the city. Actually, my gut tells me that these newbies had designs on moving out of the city long before 9/11, but that was just the straw that broke the camel's back (not Big Bend camels, of course).

And, what could be a more safer place to live than the Big Bend area. Except for property values, it's really not so bad. Most of the people who move here, do so because of the surrounding natural beauty, and most of them soon become very protective of it. I think this is a good thing.

Kchisos

[heathlem]

lets all go in together on a "lot" and sell it for a bazillion dollars then maybe we can all retire there ?

[chisos muse]

Hi Heathlem, welcome to the BBC! Hey's I wanted to ask ya, about your occupation, that is....I looked on your profile, as I look at all the newbie's....that's a pretty big occupation!

[Anonymous]

lol huge occupation. im a self employed welder. i go where the work is. ive been in midland for  months now.   i miss the hill country!!! did ya'll know theres an oil boom on ?

[chisos muse]

lol huge occupation. im a self employed welder. i go where the work is. ive been in midland for  months now.   i miss the hill country!!! did ya'll know theres an oil boom on ?

Hey Heath you's fergotta log on! We've all done it, LOL.....no I didn't know about the oil stuff either