A beautiful sprawling ranch estate in the Santa Ynez Valley is on the market for a whopping $29 million. The 554-acre ranch that was once owned by McDonald’s CEO Ray Kroc recently hit the market, according to the Wall Street Journal. Kroc, along with his then-wife Jane, bought the property in 1965 for $600,000. The purchase occurred shortly after Kroc took McDonald’s public and became a multimillionaire practically overnight. Kroc purchased the McDonald’s company in 1961 from its founders, Richard and Maurice McDonald.
The Santa Ynez estate wasn’t just a home for the Krocs, however. The property also has a 17,000-square-foot lodge with a conference center and tennis courts, as well as single-family townhouses and a home that was built for Ray’s brother, Bob. All told, the property can accommodate about 100 people.
All of these components got plenty of use; Kroc sometimes used the property for corporate retreats and as a test kitchen. It also served as the headquarters for his charitable foundation, which his brother oversaw.
Over the years, the Krocs acquired neighboring properties to expand the ranch. Joan Kroc, Ray’s third wife, tried to turn the property into a camp for children with cancer after he died in 1984, but was unable to sway local authorities to approve it. She sold the property in 1990 to Gerald Kessler, who died in 2015.
–Gerry Fall
