Big Sky Ranch Won’t Be Sold Before Auction

Plans to auction off the 6,711-acre Big Sky movie ranch in Simi Valley next week will proceed as planned, the company that owns it said Thursday after denying that a deal is imminent to sell it to a West German real estate firm.

The property, the biggest remaining movie ranch in the country, has been the setting for films and television programs including “Gunsmoke,” “Little House on the Prairie” and “The Thorn Birds.” It was owned for more than 40 years by the late oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, who spent a honeymoon in a cabin there after one of his five marriages.

“We talked to a West German firm about the property, as we talked to a number of others, but the property has never been off the market,” said Ken Ramsey, president of Santa Monica-based Watt Enterprises.

It had been reported earlier that Watt Enterprises and its partners, who own the land, were about to approve a cash offer of $35 million from an unnamed German company.

Ramsey declined to name the German company, or say why its offer was not accepted, or reveal other details of the sale offer.

Watt is proceeding with plans to sell the land at an auction to be held at the Westlake Inn in Westlake at 2 p.m. on June 13, he said.

The number of potential buyers “is swelling by the day,” he said.

Ramsey said the company hopes to get $30 million to $50 million for the property.

The company plans to auction four parcels, ranging from 500 to 3,000 acres. It plans to keep another 2,700 acres for development of a retirement community, golf course, equestrian center, mobile home park and 2,000 residential units.