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The St. Louis Zoo wants to buy the sprawling animal park Grant’s Farm from the heirs of August Busch Jr. for about $30 million, but one son of the beer baron is making his own offer to keep it in the family.
Grant’s Farm has drawn 25 million guests since it opened in 1954 on a farm-like setting in south St. Louis County. Zoo leaders said Wednesday the deal would triple the zoo’s acreage, add a third campus and allow for an extensive breeding site for endangered animals.
Jeffrey P. Bonner, president and CEO of the St. Louis Zoo, said the zoo would keep the features that have made Grant’s Farm “a truly unique attraction for decades,” but would add more animals and educational offerings.
Anheuser-Busch InBev, formed when InBev purchased Anheuser-Busch from the Busch family in 2008, currently leases the Grant’s Farm land from the family, and has agreed to donate about $27 million to the zoo for the purchase.
The deal would likely require residents of St. Louis city and some surrounding counties to approve an added tax to fund between $3.5 million and $8.5 million in annual park operation costs. That measure could go on the ballot next November. The zoo said it would also need additional private funding for infrastructure improvements, management and support.
The sale will go through if a St. Louis judge agrees with four of six Busch heirs to release the land from a trust.
One of August Busch Jr.’s children, William K. “Billy” Busch, is making his own bid at a “comparable price.”
“Maintaining continued Busch Family ownership of historic Grant’s Farm is something that was very important to my dad, Gussie Busch, who said so in his will, and it’s extremely important to me and my family,” he said in a statement. “I grew up at Grant’s Farm, it was my home, and it still feels like home to me.”
Busch is president and CEO of the growing William K Busch Brewing Co., which makes Kraftig beer. He said he would maintain Grant’s Farm as a tourist destination for families and might even move his company’s office there and add a small brewery.
