PHOTO:THE WAY HOME/SOTHEBY’S Western fans have been known to come and stay regularly.
In 2012, Rob Bartley bought a detailed replica of an 1860s Wyoming frontier town, set in the heart of a 900-acre ranch on the Central Plateau, with a handshake deal.
The entire project, Mellonsfolly Ranch, had been built for a reported NZ$8 million by his friend John Bedogni, who founded a successful glass company. After Bedogni suffered a personal tragedy, his “interest fell away,” Bartley explains.
“That’s when I got involved.”
An entrepreneur who founded Ali Arc, an aluminium car parts manufacturer with facilities in New Zealand and Canada, Bartle will say only that he paid “a lot” for the ranch and town, which Bodogni built “for his friends and to have private events”.
Bartley has maintained the Old West town’s original mission, hosting an event every month or so
READ MORE VIA STUFF
MOST POPULAR
