Billionaire Walmart Heir Rob Walton Sells Aspen Land for $30.8 Million

Billionaire Walmart heir Rob Walton has sold a plot of land in Aspen for $30.8 million, one of the highest prices ever paid for undeveloped land in the upscale Colorado ski destination.

The deal for the roughly 33,000-square-foot parcel closed this week, according to real estate Craig Morris of Aspen Snowmass Sotheby’s International Realty, who said he worked with the buyer on the deal. He declined to comment on the buyer or seller, but public records show the seller was Mr. Walton, who purchased the two lots for a combined $9.19 million in 2000.

The property, on the edge of the Roaring Fork River and the Hallam Lake nature preserve, was never officially on the market, Mr. Morris said. Like many recent big-ticket deals in Aspen, the transaction was pieced together before the property could be formally listed. 

Comprising two separate lots, the property contains the foundation for a mansion that was never completed, according to Mr. Morris. Those permits have since expired, however, and the buyer doesn’t plan to use the existing foundations, he said. To build a house on the property, the buyer would have to reapply for new permits, Mr. Morris said, which could be complicated by a moratorium on certain kinds of new development within the Aspen city limits.

Mr. Walton couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The son of Walmart founder Sam Walton and formerly chairman of the company’s board, his net worth is more than $60 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Mr. Walton was represented by Lex Tarumianz of Aspen Snowmass Sotheby’s International Realty. Mr. Tarumianz couldn’t be reached for comment.

By: Katherine Clarke I The Wall Street Journal I June 1, 2022