Billionaire TD Ameritrade founder Joe Rickett’s proposal to build a resort in the Bondurant Valley appears to be moving forward again, albeit as a scaled-back version.
Ricketts' revised plan calls for 94,141 square feet of space compared to 230,000 for the original Homestead Resort.
A commercial building-permit application outlining the project was filed with Sublette County Planning on Sept. 21, according to a records check by Cowboy State Daily.
The application lists the owner as Jackson Fork Ranch, a 1,300-acre property owned by Ricketts, with the applicant listed as Parker Platt, a principal at the architecture firm PLATT in Brevard, North Carolina.
According to the application’s project description, the resort would have a 325-foot by 215-foot footprint, with three levels of heated space totaling 47,302 square feet. It includes guest accommodations, dining, spa/wellness and support areas, and an additional 46,839-square-foot underground parking garage.
The new total is roughly 59% smaller than the resort plan Ricketts abandoned in 2024.
New Resort Called 'The Confluence'
Ricketts told Cowboy State Daily by email the goal is to “showcase Sublette County’s incredible recreational opportunities and natural resources while bringing good jobs and economic development to the community.
“The Confluence is a family-friendly Wyoming lodge rooted in Western hospitality and surrounded by the natural beauty that makes Sublette County special. The Project is expected to support over 50 long-term jobs and hundreds of construction jobs, with a commitment to working with local contractors and subcontractors when possible.”
Ricketts also said The Confluence is being developed in accordance with Sublette County’s Land Development Regulations and its zoning approval conditions.
“We will be a good neighbor and take a thoughtful approach to managing construction traffic,” he said.
Saving Yellowstone Separate
While Ricketts has portrayed conservation and carefully managed development as compatible goals in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, he said his recently announced Saving Yellowstone initiative is a separate nonprofit effort.
At an August “Saving Yellowstone” symposium, Ricketts told an audience of conservationists, wildlife experts and environmental advocates that the 22-million-acre ecosystem spanning Wyoming, Montana and Idaho faces growing pressure from climate change and human activity.
Still, he said the region is in better shape than it was 50 years ago, and can remain both ecologically intact and economically prosperous if managed responsibly.
“If we don’t move now, it will be lost forever,” he said then.
Ricketts also said technologies such as Starlink have made it more feasible for people to live and work remotely in places once protected by their isolation, increasing development pressure in wild areas. He has funded graduate-level wildlife and environmental research at five universities.
Ricketts previously described the larger Homestead Resort proposal as having a “mission-driven focus on protecting, preserving, and enjoying the natural beauty of the Hoback region,” according to press materials sent to Cowboy State Daily. Those materials said the resort was intended to give visitors a closer connection to the landscape and, in turn, build support for protecting it.
First Project Too Costly
Ricketts' view was not shared by all of his Bondurant Valley neighbors when the larger Homestead Resort was proposed in 2024. Residents argued that even a conservation-minded resort would introduce construction activity, traffic and development into an area used by migrating wildlife.
They felt the character of Bondurant Valley would be negatively affected.
“The best part about this place is the wildlife,” resident Pat Burroughs told Cowboy State Daily at the time. “It’s so fun to watch 20 mule deer grazing in my yard. And all this development is going to push it out, closing migration areas.”
Ricketts ultimately pulled the plug on the proposal, telling Sublette County commissioners at the time that a shortened construction season, required by Wyoming Game and Fish because of proximity to a wildlife migration corridor, was going to add between $60-100 million in costs. The restriction was also projected by Ricketts to add three years to the construction time, for a total of six .
Ricketts asked Sublette County commissioners to lift those restrictions, proposing several mitigation strategies he said Game and Fish approved. But the commission rejected his request by a vote a 3-2 vote in June 2024.
Ricketts announced a month later that he would halt the project.
Some Still Oppose Smaller Project
Burroughs told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday she still feels the same way about a resort in that location, even though the project is considerably scaled back.
“He has made all these claims about wanting to scale back everything, change fences, do all this stuff to protect wildlife,” she said. “Yet he’s putting a resort in the middle of the migration pathway again.”
Burroughs said no construction has begun that she can tell. She is anticipating Ricketts might go back to Sublette County commissioners to ask them to ease restrictions on working during the winter.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
