US businessman buys monastery for 120 million dollars

St. Benedict's Monastery, Colorado, USA. Photo: wsj.com

St. Benedict’s Monastery, located in the mountains near the city of Aspen (Colorado, USA), was sold for 120 million dollars to the CEO of Palantir Technologies, Alex Karp. This was reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The deal is the priciest residential sale to date in Colorado’s Pitkin County. The monastery belonged to the Trappist order for almost 70 years and was situated on a plot of about 3700 acres. The main building, constructed in the 1950s based on the model of a 12th-century Cistercian abbey, occupies about 2200 square meters. Adjacent to it is a spiritual retreat center (cells for solitude), built in the 1990s.

According to a representative of the Mirr Ranch Group agency, the property interested a limited circle of buyers due to strict environmental and land restrictions. Karp intends to use the area as a private estate while preserving the historical architecture and part of the natural landscape.

Previously, the Trappists managed a farm, bakery, and spiritual meeting center here, but a decrease in the number of monks forced them to put the property up for sale. Last year, the property was listed for 150 million dollars.

As reported by the UOJ, the UGCC sold a historic church in Chicago for 175 thousand dollars.

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