Photography by John Fedele
Billy and Adolphus Busch
One dollar.
That’s the difference between the Busch siblings’ competing bids to buy Grant’s Farm—money-wise, anyway.
Billy Busch, whose William K Busch Brewing Co. brews Kräftig beer, raised his offer to buy the popular south St. Louis county attraction Monday to one dollar more than the $26 million bid from four of his five brothers and sisters. Busch offered in November to buy the park for $24.3 million.
“I am determined to buy and continue operating Grant’s Farm as a first-class family attraction for the benefit of all St. Louisans for many generations to come,” Busch said in a statement, adding, “I do not want to get into a bidding war with my brothers and sisters, who I love.”
The new offer continues the rivalry splitting the Busch siblings over Grant’s Farm’s future. Billy and Adolphus Busch support Billy’s plan to sustain Grant’s Farm through boosting concessions at food shops, corporate sponsorships, events programming, as well as a German-style tasting room and demonstration brewery for his Kräftig beer.
See also: Billy Busch’s Plan for Grant’s Farm Is All About Family—and Beer
Busch's offer also matches his siblings' $8 million bid to buy the historic Busch Family Mansion and surrounding 22 acres adjoining the park.
The remaining four children of August A. ‘Gussie’ Busch Jr.—Beatrice Busch von Gontard, Peter Busch, Trudy Busch Valentine, and Andrew D. Busch—originally supported a plan for the Saint Louis Zoo to buy the park to build a breeding facility and habitats for endangered animals. The zoo withdrew its offer in March, soon after Billy Busch submitted his counter offer for the longtime family retreat.
Matthew W. Geekie, president of the Saint Louis Zoo Association board of directors, said then that the zoo did not want to be “a party to causing a split within the Busch family.”
See also: Saint Louis Zoo Withdraws Offer to Buy Grant’s Farm
The siblings responded in April with their own offer to buy Grant’s Farm.
“Our father, Gussie Busch, opened Grant’s Farm to the public so that others could share in its beauty, magic and fun,” the siblings said in a statement. “He wanted this wonderful place to be available for the public to enjoy in perpetuity, if possible with Busch family ownership, and we are committed to fulfill his vision.”
See also: Four Busch Siblings Make Counter Offer to Keep Grant’s Farm Away from Brothers
St. Louis Magazine senior editor William Powell went in-depth into the family fight over the St. Louis attraction in his story, "Selling Grant’s Farm," in the February issue. Billy Busch told Powell that it hurts on a personal level when his siblings claim his business isn’t successful enough to support Grant’s Farm or that he’ll lose the land to developers when he dies.
“Hell, I get their side,” Busch told SLM, “but does it bother me that they don’t have the faith in me and the respect for Dad’s will, which says he clearly wants it to go to one or more of his kids, to sell it to me? Deep down, yes, it does.”
Though the zoo is no longer in the running to buy Grant’s Farm, litigation filed to separate the property from the Busch Family Real Estate Trust will still go to court this week and will focus on other matters related to the suit.
Contact Lindsay Toler by an email at LToler@stlmag.com or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
