Become an Insiderand start reading now. Have an account? . Alex Karp has added to the growing list of billionaires buying large pieces of land for personal residences.
The Palantir Technologies cofounder and CEO spent $120 million on a 3,720-acre ranch in Snowmass, Colorado — a ski town 15 miles north of Aspen.
Karp, who's worth $11.7 billion as of June 23, 2026, according to Forbes, purchased the land from St. Benedict's Monastery, which no longer has enough monks to support itself. It was originally listed for $150 million in 2024. Karp knocked a few million dollars off the price tag and bought it in 2025.
Ken Mirr of Douglas Elliman, who specializes in ranches, had the listing with his colleague and daughter, Haley Mirr. He told Business Insider in 2024 that an opportunity to own this property doesn't come up often.
"It is such a unique landscape. Somebody will sit there and go, 'Wow, there's nothing like this,'" Mirr told Business Insider. "You're not going to duplicate it."
The Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, a Roman Catholic religious order colloquially known as the Trappists, bought the property in 1956 for an unknown price. It built the original monastery in 1958.
Early on, the monks supported themselves by cattle ranching, making candy, and selling eggs to local restaurants and farmers. Later, they tapped a local cattle rancher to do the physical work with livestock on the land.
The monastery includes a chapel, prayer areas, and living quarters for the monks. More buildings have been added to the compound since the 1950s, including a retreat center for hosting events.
The Rev. Thomas Keating founded the Snowmass Interreligious Conference in 1984, bringing regular interfaith retreats to St. Benedict's. Mirr said the space had also been used by the Aspen Institute, which hosts the yearly Aspen Ideas Festival attended by business executives, public officials, and other thinkers.
The county has caucuses that uphold its laws and approve land uses. In Snowmass, the caucus approved a 5,750-square-foot limit to the floor area of homes, so putting up an extra-large megamansion on the ranch is out of the question.
The county is known for oversize luxury homes that trade for handsome sums — a 22,405-square-foot mansion in Aspen sold for a record-setting $108 million in April to an LLC called Buddies Aspen, which The Wall Street Journal said was made up of a powerful duo: the billionaire financier Thomas Peterffy and the former casino developer Steve Wynn.
Mirr said he'd already turned away buyers who weren't the right fit for the property. He and the monastery leadership** **were looking for someone who wanted to do a little with a lot.
"There's going to be a limited buying pool, and we understand that," Mirr said in 2024. "Our focus really is to look at a conservation buyer ultimately who can work with the code and work with the open space."
This year, Karp moved Palantir's headquarters out of Denver to Miami. Karp, himself, has ties to Miami, but plans to treat the large plot of land in Colorado as a home, according to the Journal.
The property, as it exists today, is about 3,720 acres in total. #
The monastery accumulated multiple parcels over time, Mirr said.
The Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance acquired the property in 1956. #
Before monks bought the property, ranchers and farmers who had settled there** **years before occupied the land.
The early monastery buildings — built by the monks themselves — were finished in 1958. #
"They based it on a 14th-century design of a monastery from France," Mirr said. "They had the brothers there help build it."
There have been additions since then.
The buildings that make up the monastery total about 18,000 square feet. #
Along with a** **chapel, prayer areas, and living quarters for the monks, there are additional buildings that were built during expansion, such as barns, sheds, and an old schoolhouse.
There's also a retreat center where events are held.
But the living quarters are sparsely occupied today. #
Mirr said only about six monks still lived on the property. More than a dozen monks lived there in the late 1950s.
"That is part of the reason they're shutting down," Mirr said. "There are just not as many gentlemen in the world — at least in the United States — who want to become monks. And it's just much more of a facility now that they can manage."
The monastery is hardly in use these days. #
On Sundays, the monastery still holds mass for the public.
But Karp doesn't have to become a monk to be there. #
"Somebody can have a different idea of what can be done," Mirr said. "Some people say, 'Does this have to be a faith-based enterprise advisor?' Well, maybe there could be a combination of uses out here, too."
Karp plans on treating the property like a residence.
Mirr had been approached by many real estate developers, but nothing was realistic. #
One developer approached him with dreams of building a swanky private club, he said.
"When a developer comes up, and they say, 'Oh, we're going to try to go after this many homes or make it like a Yellowstone Club' — maybe in any other area that could work, but we just know it won't likely work here," Mirr added.
"Why go through the brain damage of going through a county approval process that's subject to public scrutiny that would just taint the property?"
Karp should expect to spend a lot of time maintaining the property — or at least be prepared to pay someone to do it. #
"The owner won't be there 24/7, 365 days a year," Mirr said. "But they will have a rancher who will manage the ranch."
There is a local rancher who manages the property and considers wildlife conservation, water irrigation, and cattle, Mirr added.
There are about 1,500 acres of irrigated land from the snowpack of the surrounding mountains that support the property. #
The property has water rights that date back to the 1800s, and the water flows to the Colorado River.
"Water is important, and certainly they mainly use it for growing hay, but that ground that is irrigated helps support wildlife habitat and other things for the area — and it's** **just a great amenity," Mirr said.
While Karp does plan to use the property as a residence, he may not be able to make it into a large compound like his billionaire counterparts. #
Mirr said that, unlike a state such as Texas, which sometimes allows basically unfettered building on wide-open spaces, Pitkin County has a "growth management quota system," which sets limits each year on the amount of square footage that can be built in a neighborhood.
"Ultimately, somebody who buys this will have to work with the county on** **some level," he said. "Either accept what they're going to give you, or negotiate with them through a process called the Open Space Master Plan concept or something similar, where you can have a negotiated settlement and still provide a lot of conservation results and outcomes."
During the selling process, Mirr said he had a hard time finding the right buyer who would respect the local codes. #
"You can count them on two hands," he said ** of the number of interested buyers**.
Mirr added that the buyer could build "a family compound or something of that nature, where you could build home sites, and you could build more barns and outbuildings."
Snowmass is about 15 miles outside Aspen, which influenced the high sales price. #
"If this were 3,800 acres in central Colorado, nowhere near here, it would take on a much different valuation," Mirr said.
Pricing the property was difficult as there aren't many similar properties nearby. #
Snowmass Falls Ranch, a 650-acre parcel in the same county, was sold to the county for $34 million earlier this year.
The monastery is more than five times its size, but it helped Mirr get a sense of an appropriate asking price.
It didn't sell for the original listing price, but still broke the record for the most expensive sale in Pitkin County.
Mirr expected the eventual buyer to be an avid skier — which Karp is — and someone who wanted access to other high-profile residents and visitors. #
"Aspen's an international city," he said. "If you look at the people who own properties in Aspen, they're from all over the world ‚ a much more diverse buying pool than any other city in Colorado for sure."
According to a 2023 Business Insider article, Karp spends at least five hours a week cross-country skiing.
In addition to the Aspen Ideas Festival, Aspen hosts other events that attract national and global attendees, including the Food & Wine Classic.
"Thirty minutes to a ski area at 3,800 acres — there's nothing like this in the United States," Mirr added.