Windy Point Park on the market for $15

million

Owner says he can't afford to donate it to county but is

looking for a private buyer rather than a developer.

By Shonda Novak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, October 12, 2007

Windy Point Park, a popular recreation spot on Lake Travis, is for sale for $15 million.

The 11.5-acre tract, with about 2,000 feet of shoreline, is owned by Bob Barstow and his son, Richard, through a limited partnership.

Bob Barstow said he is putting the property on the market after a pending contract with an undisclosed Houston developer fell through recently.

The park is on Comanche Trail, two miles from the landmark Oasis Restaurant. It shares a peninsula with county-operated Bob Wentz Park at Windy Point on Lake Travis.

"It's a trophy piece of property," said Bob Barstow, who bought the land in several purchases during the 1970s and early 1980s. "Whoever comes up with the money gets it first."

Any sale to a private buyer would probably end public access.

Barstow said that he would avail himself of "all the usual and unusual ways we can think of, every method possible," to sell the property and that he will scout for prospective buyers both domestic and foreign, including people who want a second home.

"I understand there's a few sheiks and movie stars who could afford it," he said.

The Barstows' land includes a property right to use the lake from an additional 1,500 feet of lakefront in the adjacent Bob Wentz Park. The easement was the subject of thorny litigation with Travis County.

Barstow, a retired lawyer who once owned a charter aviation company and flight school in Houston, said he initially planned to build a house on the land but decided he didn't want to deal with "trespassers in my front yard."

Instead, through his separate Windy Point Park Inc., he has operated it as a park since 1980.

Visitors pay $5 a day on weekdays and $10 a day on weekends, although it's free for Comanche Trail area residents.

Barstow estimates that about 100,000 people a year use the park, which is popular with campers, scuba divers and others.

But it's time to sell, he said.

"I want to go travel," said Barstow, 78. "My motto is, 'Meet me in Fiji as soon as the property sells.' "

That will be the first stop on his planned travels, he said.

Barstow said the tract is perfect for "someone's showcase mansion," adding that he'd prefer not to sell it to a developer.

"I have a love affair with the land ... and don't want to see it torn up," he said. "I want to be proud of it when I come back."

Richard Eason, a board member of the Protect Lake Travis Association, said he would like to see Travis County acquire Windy Point Park and keep it in the public domain.

"We don't have enough public parks and lake access on Lake Travis," said Eason, speaking as an individual and not as a board member of the association.

If the property ends up in private hands, he said, "my personal concerns would be that we protect the water quality as well as the aesthetic quality of the lake."

Charles Bergh, parks director for Travis County, said the county "is always receptive to looking at opportunities that improve recreational access."

But the price tag is out of the county's reach.

"It all gets down to available funding," Bergh said. "I don't think we could meet his price point."

"This thing could go real quick and painless if Bob would just donate it to the county," Bergh said. "But I don't think Bob wants to donate his land to the county in light of our past."

Barstow would "love to be able to keep my land in park service, but it's just not economically possible," he said, adding that he has been subsidizing it out of his pocket for a number of years.

Now, he's got Fiji on his mind.

"I like beaches and clear water, and that's a good place to start," said the adventurous Barstow, who for seven years, including two in the Caribbean, lived on a sailboat the same color, make and rig as the one in the movie "The Perfect Storm."

"I want to spend the rest of my life having fun," he said. "I've paid my dues."