I just came from Lobo a few days ago, checking it out. The owner is very nice and very German, the land has plenty of electricity and now a working well + pump, but if you wanted to actually build anything here, it's going to be a massive amount of work. There are also lots of bees to avoid!
The biggest issue for me, other than the massive amount of work and capital required to build something here, is that you are RIGHT on the highway. It's not a freeway, but there is enough traffic on that Big Bend route to Marfa that every minute or two during the day, you'll have some truck hauling it at 75mph past you.
I think you could demo most of the land and turn it into some fun outdoor concert venue with food trucks and bathrooms, but you won't be able to draw more than 100-200 people max because you would have to eat up so much of the land for parking.
I really can't think of any killer use case for Lobo, which is unfortunate because it's actually quite gorgeous there. You can see the mountainous border with Mexico in the distance and I'm sure it's stunningly beautiful at night.
you could possibly build a star watching destination. I've been the McDonald observatory a few times and their star parties are very popular. Maybe something like an overnight thing with telescopes here or there for visitors to use. The teepee's in Terlinqua are done very well.
I remember reading about some Indian Indian guy building a motel on such a location, that does pretty well because it's on a spot that really required a motel. The rest of the space could probably be used for any extra income like you mentioned.
Aren't multi-story parkings a thing in Texas? They can massively increase the parking lot efficiency while costing relatively little (mostly steel and concrete for pillars and floors, almost zero walls).
Closeness to a highway could be beneficial for a factory, too.
There is an entire YouTube channel about someone who bought a ghost town in California (Cerro Gordo) - https://www.youtube.com/@GhostTownLiving. Pretty interesting stuff.
I stayed in Cerro Gordo before it was sold. There was a caretaker who let us crash in the bunkhouse for a small donation. This was in early spring, with snow on the ground and temps of -15C/5F. We eventually ran out of firewood at 1am, but it was a memorable experience.
A friend went back to CG after the sale and told me that everything there is now off limits. In a video from the YT channel I saw a sign that said 'private property - trespassers will be prosecuted' [0]. It's sad and lame, and I'm getting douchy vibes when I watch the guys videos. But hey, good luck to him.
EDIT: I just watched the hilarious and insightful Maggie Mae Fish video[1] linked by Spellmann. I retract what I said before. The guy is a full on douche and fuck him.
I watched a few of these a long time ago. Looking at the list of videos, it's funny that nearly half of them are basically, "I've lived here X months now!" I guess not much happens in ghost towns.
I haven't kept up with it recently, but my understanding is this project has been a big loss leader for him. He needs "volunteers" and donations to support the project and he hasn't been able to find a sustainable business model.
I own a decently sized house in a major city. It's about 100 years old but in above average condition. It still requires considerable time and maintenence. Fortunately I have water, gas, electric hookups from the city. They pick up the trash and maintain the roads too (not well, but they do it).
Now imagine you have to do all your regular maintenence, but on 30 buildings. And there are no contractors willing to come out. And the nearest hardware store is 100 miles away. That sounds like several full time jobs. Now let's make it worse. You also need to manage the electricity, water, gas, trash, road maintenence, and anything else that comes up. Awful. Another couple of full time jobs. Only all these jobs you now have produce no income.
Want a place to throw weird parties? Get a field somewhere with water and electricity and build a small structure for bathrooms and storage. Don't plague yourself with endless maintenence of ancient buildings.
This! I have a cabin rental in a semi rural area. 90 miles from an expensive major metro area. 20 miles from a small city (15K). It's impossible to get anyone out there and I need to pay them their rates during their drive. I can't imagine how that would work 100 miles away. HVAC outage goes form a $200 service call to a $1600 service call.
Well, it's not that terrible if you're a collective like the current owners are.
Artists, religious cults, left-wing activists, right-wing/sovereign citizen activists, preppers, eco activists - all these groups tend to like such opportunities, because the heavy lifting (initial infrastructure construction, road access, legal issues and general paperwork) has all been sorted out already.
The biggest issues for them tend to be Internet access (although Starlink changes the equation seriously here) and access to essential services - you can/have to self-organize a volunteer firefighter corps and basic shops, in the US you can even run your own police force (although it raises serious ethical concerns), but medical services and mail is a massive hurdle.
I've been there, my wife and I have a real affinity for that region of Texas. We were married in Marathon and make the trip out there from Dallas a few times a year. Sometimes Marfa sometimes Marathon sometimes Alpine etc.
It's definitely a unique area, the people who live there either have lived there for generations or live there because they don't want to be found (for various reasons). Marfa gets especially strange because it's full of rich people, artists, and grad students but also literal cowboys and bandits.
We loved it so much we moved out here. Couldn’t be happier. Weather is great, people are friendly. No Uber Eats but in the long run that is a net positive I think. this part of Texas is certainly the best in my eyes and one of the best parts of the whole country.
ever since my first stepdad took me to the see the original at a drive in when I was 11 I've always had a wonderful dream of someday killing that jerk Leatherface.
I know it's a different company, but after SpaceX's most recent launch spewed debris 10+ miles, I wouldn't be thrilled about being in close proximity to a Blue Origin launch site.
I live out here. 10 miles may as well be an inch. It is VAST.
All of the towns around here have a population of 2000 or less, save for Alpine at a whopping 20k. Personally, I have zero concerns about being in the radius of any of all that.
I'll leave the question of "legally allowed" to the lawyers, because I think the elephant in the room is: who's going to buy your bonds if your ghost town has no tax revenue?
I don't think it works that way. IANAL...but Lobo does not have its own government. Nor any annual tax revenue, which might be pledged to make the payments on bonds.
It's great to see someone selling with some consideration of the intentions of the purchaser rather than just to the highest bidder, there's not enough of that going on in America. I know it's not exactly prime real estate, but still.
I'm going to be driving through that area on Memorial Day weekend. The article mentions there is going to be an event - anyone know what time/day that's going to happen?
[+] [-] mikeshafer|2 years ago|reply
The biggest issue for me, other than the massive amount of work and capital required to build something here, is that you are RIGHT on the highway. It's not a freeway, but there is enough traffic on that Big Bend route to Marfa that every minute or two during the day, you'll have some truck hauling it at 75mph past you.
I think you could demo most of the land and turn it into some fun outdoor concert venue with food trucks and bathrooms, but you won't be able to draw more than 100-200 people max because you would have to eat up so much of the land for parking.
I really can't think of any killer use case for Lobo, which is unfortunate because it's actually quite gorgeous there. You can see the mountainous border with Mexico in the distance and I'm sure it's stunningly beautiful at night.
[+] [-] chasd00|2 years ago|reply
https://buzzardsroostterlingua.com/
[+] [-] fakedang|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|2 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] nine_k|2 years ago|reply
Closeness to a highway could be beneficial for a factory, too.
[+] [-] lostmsu|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomcam|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] slillibri|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] car|2 years ago|reply
A friend went back to CG after the sale and told me that everything there is now off limits. In a video from the YT channel I saw a sign that said 'private property - trespassers will be prosecuted' [0]. It's sad and lame, and I'm getting douchy vibes when I watch the guys videos. But hey, good luck to him.
EDIT: I just watched the hilarious and insightful Maggie Mae Fish video[1] linked by Spellmann. I retract what I said before. The guy is a full on douche and fuck him.
[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVLrNNJCTS8&t=15s
[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIcnCaVsYFI
[+] [-] agentofoblivion|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] itake|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mschuster91|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reducesuffering|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bombcar|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] grumple|2 years ago|reply
I own a decently sized house in a major city. It's about 100 years old but in above average condition. It still requires considerable time and maintenence. Fortunately I have water, gas, electric hookups from the city. They pick up the trash and maintain the roads too (not well, but they do it).
Now imagine you have to do all your regular maintenence, but on 30 buildings. And there are no contractors willing to come out. And the nearest hardware store is 100 miles away. That sounds like several full time jobs. Now let's make it worse. You also need to manage the electricity, water, gas, trash, road maintenence, and anything else that comes up. Awful. Another couple of full time jobs. Only all these jobs you now have produce no income.
Want a place to throw weird parties? Get a field somewhere with water and electricity and build a small structure for bathrooms and storage. Don't plague yourself with endless maintenence of ancient buildings.
[+] [-] rticesterp|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mschuster91|2 years ago|reply
Artists, religious cults, left-wing activists, right-wing/sovereign citizen activists, preppers, eco activists - all these groups tend to like such opportunities, because the heavy lifting (initial infrastructure construction, road access, legal issues and general paperwork) has all been sorted out already.
The biggest issues for them tend to be Internet access (although Starlink changes the equation seriously here) and access to essential services - you can/have to self-organize a volunteer firefighter corps and basic shops, in the US you can even run your own police force (although it raises serious ethical concerns), but medical services and mail is a massive hurdle.
[+] [-] adamredwoods|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] keiferski|2 years ago|reply
It's only about 50 miles north of Marfa, which has a lot of art world stuff going on.
[+] [-] __derek__|2 years ago|reply
> Jeff Bazo’s Blue Origin spaceport is 40 miles north of Lobo.
I'm not sure which is funnier: honest mistake or intentional dig.
[+] [-] chasd00|2 years ago|reply
It's definitely a unique area, the people who live there either have lived there for generations or live there because they don't want to be found (for various reasons). Marfa gets especially strange because it's full of rich people, artists, and grad students but also literal cowboys and bandits.
[+] [-] vogt|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sklarsa|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bryanrasmussen|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jdwithit|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vogt|2 years ago|reply
All of the towns around here have a population of 2000 or less, save for Alpine at a whopping 20k. Personally, I have zero concerns about being in the radius of any of all that.
[+] [-] chrisco255|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] koolba|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikestew|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bell-cot|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] friend_and_foe|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jmspring|2 years ago|reply
That said, I haven't been in awhile and I hear it was impacted by the recent fires.
[+] [-] beautifulfreak|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] qwertox|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|2 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] zdms|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BeetleB|2 years ago|reply
If there is a museum of bad writing, this belongs there.
[+] [-] expertentipp|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Rebelgecko|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|2 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] wolverine876|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] expertentipp|2 years ago|reply