Westlands changes hands

MEEKER | One of Rio Blanco County’s most expensive properties is under new ownership, according to legal documents.

Special warranty deeds filed in the county April 14 cede water rights and land from KRH Colorado Inc., KRH Colorado Properties, LLC and Henry R. Kravis to a company listed as “Westlands, LLC” out of Delaware. That company is newly formed and has an incorporation date of Oct. 18, 2019.

The recorded price is $44,792,614.07.

Filing documents received by the Colorado Secretary of State name Westlands, LLC as a foreign limited liability company. The principal office address listed is for law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, on Seventh Avenue in New York.

A further search also lists recent filing documents for entity names, trade names, and livestock brands for Westlands Ranch, Westlands, and Westlands, LLC earlier this month. The principal office address, again, is for Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, and the documents were filed by Ireland, Stapleton, Pryor and Pascoe PC, a Denver law firm.

According to legal500.com, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, “acts for a number of prominent asset managers, investment banks, plan sponsors and other financial entities, with standout names including Citigroup, Warburg Pincus, Genstar Capital, Bloomberg and HealthEquity.”

A February 2020 article from law.com tied the firm to Michael Bloomberg’s presidential campaign. Hundreds of thousands of dollars were disbursed to the firm for “legal consulting,” according to Federal Election Commission spending records.

In February, Willkie was paid $244,606.64 by the campaign (page 1,506 of the 1,515 page report.) According to the law.com article, “a campaign spokesman said Bloomberg has long-standing ties to Venable and Willkie.” (Venable is another legal firm.)

Westlands, a 4,000+ acre property about 20 miles southeast of Meeker, has been owned by Henry Kravis since 1991. Kravis is the co-founder of private equity group KKR & CO., Inc, a company worth more than $200 billion, according to Forbes.

The expansive forest playground features a 19,000 square foot home (with five bedrooms, a library, wine cellar, theater, wet bar and more), outdoor pool, private golf course, helipad, guest cabins, employee housing and a private two-mile stretch of the White River.

The ranch was listed in January 2019 for $46 million by real estate company Hall and Hall, out of Steamboat. Listing agent Brian Smith declined to comment, citing the confidentiality of both parties involved in the sale. Agent Jeff Buerger was also contacted, but did not return a request for comment.

Summer jobs at Westlands have employed many Meeker high school students.

“Rest assured our management, staff, physical address and phone number remain the same,” a billing address change read. New contact information for Westlands is for Geller Advisors, LLC, located on Third Avenue in New York City. The company “provides financial services to high net worth individuals, families, non-profit foundations and operating businesses,” according to their website.

Geller Advisors is owned by Geller & Company, founded by current president Martin Geller. According to gellerco.com, Geller is “a corporate member of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Bureau of National Affairs in Washington, D.C.”

Bloomberg LP is owned by former 2020 democratic presidential candidate (and No. 16 on Forbe’s Billionaires List) Michael Bloomberg.

The HT reached out to Geller Advisors for comment, but did not receive a response.