It was “the auction of a lifetime” at least as far as the auctioneer Gregg Pickens is concerned.
He was talking about the sale of the Edward Ranch in the 6200 block of south Western on Saturday, Oct. 7.
About 125 people were in attendance to see a trio of local men win the bidding on the 358-acre ranch.
The ranch was divided into two parcels. The first one, 158 acres, was at some $5,200 per acre when the bidding stopped. The second tract, 200 acres, reached some $4,700.
But when the two parcels were bid together – to see which method brought the most money for the sellers – the high bid was $5,550 per acre.
The three partners in the buy were Mike Brown, John Special and Chris McCutchen. They are also together in Goober Drilling and Special Energy.
Pickens said he lets his bidders set the first bid. It was $2,000 an acre. Bidding went up in $1,000 increments, then by $500 jumps and finally bids slowed to $100 increases.
Thirty bidders had signed up for the auction. It came down to the local trio and a developer from Edmond/Oklahoma City.
Brown told The Journal his group plans to clean up the land, do some fencing and expand the grasslands and run some cattle. He said they bought it as an investment.
Pickens said he was excited to see the ownership stayed locally.
The city of Stillwater and Rural Water District No. 3 are melding plans for a water tower in the northeast corner of the property at 56th and Western.
The water group is planning a 600,000 gallon tower and plans are to join with the city to expand it to more than a million gallons.
