When a tiny windswept ghost town in West Texas hit the real estate market in 2023, a flurry of national headlines and widespread interest followed.
Little remained of Lobo, an abandoned desert town some 60 miles northwest of art oasis Marfa: just an old grocery store, a long-vacant motel and a boarded-up gas station.
The sellers, a group of friends from Germany who used the town as a vacation spot, sought a buyer who would do something interesting with the land. Ideas poured in. A vineyard and wine-tasting venue? A retirement commune for veter ans? An animal sanctuary?
The price tag? A cool $100,000, well below the state’s median home price of roughly $337,000.
So what happened to Lobo?
Property records in Culberson County, home to Lobo, show the buyer is listed as LOBO TEXAS LLC and has a Corpus Christi address. Culberson County chief appraiser Maricel “Chello” Gonzalez told The Dallas Morning News the sale was finalized in October 2023, and the 10 acres are valued at $2,000.
The town now belongs to a Corpus Christi couple, Dennis and Bonnie Berry, property records show. Reached by phone Wednesday, Bonnie Berry told The News she and her husband have long loved West Texas and jumped at the chance to buy a town. The couple attends the Viva Big Bend music festival in West Texas every summer.
“We’ve got some ideas swirling around for what to do,” she said. “It’s a cool place with some interesting history behind it.”
In its heydey, Lobo was home to roughly 100 people and bustling farmland supported by an underground aquifer. The aquifer was eventually pumped dry, and the last of the residents left the town in 1991. However, several original structures still remain, including the run-down grocery store and motel, a now-drained swimming pool and a few uninhabited homes.
Alexander Bardorff, one of the previous owners, said a friend spotted a sale sign while driving past Lobo in the late 1990s. Over the years, they met in Lobo to host music and film festivals and “get away from the busy city life and relax in the country,” Bardorff, who lives in Arizona, said last year.
The Germans made some improvements, digging new wells, installing a bathhouse, and giving the remaining buildings new roofs and windows, according to a report last year in Texas Monthly. Eventually, upkeep became too cumbersome, and the friends decided to look for a buyer.
Their timing was ideal, as tourism is exploding around Lobo. The world’s first 3D-printed hotel, along with one of the first such neighborhoods, is being built in nearby Marfa. The 60-acre site will also be the new home of El Cosmico, the beloved Marfa hotel and campground, which is relocating.
Other West Texas towns, including Alpine, Fort Davis and Marathon, draw plenty of visitors, as well. Could Lobo be the next “it town”?
Bonnie Berry said she and her husband envision some rental properties and perhaps live music in Lobo, but they are not quite ready to announce final plans.
“We’re in a holding pattern right now, but we’re excited,” she said. “It’s such a neat, unique location.”