“In July 2006, Aubrey McClendon, a prominent Oklahoma City energy
company executive and co-owner of the Seattle Supersonics and Seattle
Storm basketball teams, completed the purchase of 402 acres of Lake
Michigan shoreline at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River in Saugatuck
Township. Mr. McClendon paid $39.3 million to purchase the coastal
parcel from the Denison family, which had owned it since 1955.
In doing so, Mr. McClendon purposely outbid the State of Michigan, the City
of Saugatuck, and two land conservancies; all were seeking to buy the
property for use as a natural reserve. As early as 1982, the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources had expressed interest in acquiring the
land as part of the Saugatuck Dunes State Park. Had the purchase
involved no other issues, the magnitude of the price alone, the most ever
spend for a large expanse of undeveloped coastal land in the Lake
Michigan basin, would have attracted public interest.
But the land that Mr. McClendon now owns—a magnificent stretch of
freshwater dunes, wetlands, coastal marshes, and forest along the
southeastern Lake Michigan shore—has long occupied the place where
the history, culture, economy, and environment of Saugatuck, Douglas, and
the surrounding townships converge.”
--Keith Schneider, The Michigan Land Institute
company executive and co-owner of the Seattle Supersonics and Seattle
Storm basketball teams, completed the purchase of 402 acres of Lake
Michigan shoreline at the mouth of the Kalamazoo River in Saugatuck
Township. Mr. McClendon paid $39.3 million to purchase the coastal
parcel from the Denison family, which had owned it since 1955.
In doing so, Mr. McClendon purposely outbid the State of Michigan, the City
of Saugatuck, and two land conservancies; all were seeking to buy the
property for use as a natural reserve. As early as 1982, the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources had expressed interest in acquiring the
land as part of the Saugatuck Dunes State Park. Had the purchase
involved no other issues, the magnitude of the price alone, the most ever
spend for a large expanse of undeveloped coastal land in the Lake
Michigan basin, would have attracted public interest.
But the land that Mr. McClendon now owns—a magnificent stretch of
freshwater dunes, wetlands, coastal marshes, and forest along the
southeastern Lake Michigan shore—has long occupied the place where
the history, culture, economy, and environment of Saugatuck, Douglas, and
the surrounding townships converge.”
--Keith Schneider, The Michigan Land Institute
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