Front Elevation: Untapped Utopia
Modestly priced acreage is leading world investors into the Patagonian wilds.
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It was four years ago that Joe Luter flew to Buenos Aires, hopped a plane southwest to the city of San Carlos de Bariloche, then took a drive through Argentina’s Lake District.; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
Anfiteatro and the world-famous Limay River in
the Argentinian province
of Neuquén (Click image to
enlarge)
“I was just swept away by it all; spectacular mountains, gorgeous rivers and so much wide-open land. It just kept going and going and going,” says Luter, the chairman and CEO of Smithfield Foods. “I told myself I’d be a fool not to buy something here.”
Shortly after that trip, Luter became the owner of a 25,000-acre estancia, or ranch, that featured four miles of frontage on the Rio Limay, which flows east from Lago Nahuel Huapi through the dry steppe of northern Patagonia. It is an internationally renowned fly-fishing haven and home to monstrous brown, rainbow and brook trout. Luter says neighbor and media titan Ted Turner owns a 55,000-acre spread nearby. “When people ask me what Patagonia is like, I tell them to think of Colorado 150 years ago,” says Luter, who has since bought a second property, a 50,000-acre working ranch and fly-fishing lodge near Esquel, a few hundred miles to the south. “It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.”
Fuller Western Real Estate/Austral Realty
Ken Mirr, 303.312.4271;
Jeff Wells, 303.888.9785; www.fullerwestern.com
