An expansive piece of property in rural Missouri with a fascinating construction and ownership history has hit the marketplace with an asking price of $14.5 million. A 104-acre estate in Branson West, Missouri was built on behalf of former MLB pitcher Cole Hamels, who bought the property in 2016 with his wife during his tenure with the Texas Rangers.
The property's massive 14-bedroom, 15-bathroom main house wasn't complete when Hamels listed it for sale in 2017 for almost $10 million, and he eventually had a change of heart and donated the entire spread to a Christian children's camp organization called Camp Barnabas. Then, in February of 2021, it was purchased by Samuel and Simona Bodea of trucking company SS Express, the property's current owners who are now putting it up for sale, and despite extensive renovations the main house, which was converted by the Bodeas into an event space, still isn't quite finished. And as Samuel told Mansion Global, that could end up being a selling point rather than a detriment:
"Someone could definitely still make it their dream home if that's what they want…No dream is too big or too small for this place."
They've been living elsewhere on the property, in a much smaller but still impressive six-bedroom guest annex, but it's the giant main house, in addition to the expansive outdoor space, that is the real selling point of this property. Here are a few more details, from an older version of the property's official listing:
"Sophisticated and custom details throughout including wood beams, barrel ceilings, wood casement windows and doors, 5 vented gas fireplaces, copper guttering, and elevator shaft. Multiple entertaining areas indoor and outdoor with resort-style beach entry infinity pool and expansive kids playground."
You can get a sense of what the property is like from the video below, which showcases the exterior of the main house before many of the current renovations were made, from Dennis Hilton on YouTube:
