Auction Fails to Bring an Acceptable Bid on Movie Ranch

Negotiations are continuing with prospective buyers of the 6,711-acre Big Sky movie ranch in Simi Valley, the biggest remaining movie ranch in the United States, after a weekend auction failed to bring in satisfactory bids, a sales representative said Monday.

The ranch, owned for more than 40 years by the late oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, has been the setting of a number of movies and television programs, including “The Thornbirds,” “Gunsmoke,” “Little House on the Prairie” and “Rawhide.”

The owners, led by Santa Monica-based Watt Enterprises, said before the auction that they hoped to sell the land for $35 million to $50 million. Watt and partners bought the property in 1982 for an undisclosed price.

The owners plan to keep 2,700 acres for development of a retirement community, golf course, equestrian center, mobile home park and 2,000 residential units.

The auction, attended by about 60 people at the Westlake Inn in Westlake, ended without a sale because more attractive offers are still available from some interests, including foreign investors, that were not represented, said Nathan A. Wolfstein IV, marketing manager for the firm engaged to sell the property, Larry Latham Auctioneers.

The auction bidding was done on four separate parcels, but no combination of bids would have netted the desired amount, a spokesman for the corporation said.

Wolfstein said that about 20 parties are still interested in buying the ranch, including an unidentified West German firm which almost concluded a deal earlier, offering $35 million in cash for all four parcels. Watt spokesmen have said the sale fell through because the German firm failed to meet deadlines on unspecified conditions.