Walmart built a retail empire as a low-price leader but its founding family continues to take an opposite tack in Denver, setting records for priciest home buys in the city’s history
An Aspen-based entity tied to Rob Walton — son of Walmart founder Sam Walton — along with his daughter and son-in-law, Carrie and Greg Penner, set the mark with a $17.7 million buy in the Polo Club neighborhood nearly two years ago, the Denver Post reported, based on sources cited by BusinessDen. They more recently paid $10.5 million for an adjacent property, and plan to tear down existing striations and build a mansion on the nearly 8-acre spread over both parcels.
The first deal made through Maroon Partners LLC claimed the record for the most expensive home sale in the city of Denver on its own. The two deals’ combined price tag of $28.2 million exceeds the metro market’s record of $25 million, paid by former Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson in the suburban municipality of Cherry Hills Village.
Public records indicate the LLC plans to spend $50 million on a residence in the toney Polo Club neighborhood, indicating plans to spend more than $20 million for teardown and construction of a new home on the site
The National Football League franchise provides a common thread in the deals. The Walmart-linked trio — Walton’s son-in-law Penner is integral to the family business as chairman of the retailer — set a different record in 2022 when he led a group that shelled out $4.7 billion for the Denver Broncos, the most ever for an NFL team.
Maroon Partners lists Aspen real estate attorney Leonard Oakes as an “authorized signatory” of the LLC. Oakes did not respond to the Denver Post’s requests for comment.
The Mile High City isn’t the only metro market where ties to Walmart and the NFL are reflected in luxury residential deals. Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke, whose wife Ann is a Walmart heir, has acquired a number of eight-figure properties in Southern California, including a Beverly Hills condominium with a price higher than the record-setting buy his relatives made in Denver.