JACKSON, Wyo. — Jackson Hole Realty, Wyoming's largest real estate firm, will be acquired by Sotheby's International Realty, effective Oct. 28, officials from both companies said.
Terms were not disclosed on the deal that had been in the works for 17 months.
Jackson Hole Realty has 11 offices in Wyoming and Idaho. Sotheby's is a $319 billion, publicly traded company based in New York and London with 22 offices and more than 175 affiliates.
Sotheby's, which has been in the Jackson Hole market since 1999, currently employs about 40 sales associates in Jackson Hole while Jackson Hole Realty has about 60.
The transaction marks a significant shift in a lucrative real estate market in one of the wealthiest counties in the country.
Bland Hoke, Jackson Hole Realty broker who shepherded his company into a dominant position over several decades, said the sale was dictated by business circumstances.
All Jackson Hole Realty shareholders will remain with the company, Hoke said.
Jackson Hole Realty says it controls about 52 percent of Teton County's approximately $750 million in annual real estate sales. Sotheby's claims about 10 percent.
"Jackson Hole is not a local market," said Sotheby President Stuart Siegel, who was in Jackson on Tuesday to finalize the deal. "It became abundantly apparent in the last five years that our clients were talking about Jackson Hole more frequently."
Jackson Hole Realty originally was created in 1964 by Jackson Hole Mountain Resort founder Paul McCollister, who also was the company's first broker. McCollister managed the firm until 1983, when Hoke-Tice Realty assumed the name. Since that time, Hoke and various partners built Jackson Hole Realty into the state's largest brokerage.