Huntsman Sr.'s Deer Valley estate up for sale

A challenging Utah real-estate market is not deterring the Huntsman family from attempting to sell their palatial getaway digs in Park City.

Billionaire industrialist Jon Huntsman Sr. has put his 20,000-square-foot vacation property located at Deer Valley resort on the market for an eye-popping $55 million — with hopes of using at least some of the proceeds to help fight cancer at his namesake specialty hospital.

According to Deedee Corradini, senior vice president of Prudential Utah Real Estate, the property comprises three parcels situated on almost 64 acres. The largest section is a 40-acre parcel that includes a 12-bedroom, 16-bath mansion with a swimming pool, game room, fitness room and two custom-built water features.

The other parcels are 20 acres and 3.61 acres respectively, she added.

"The reason the Huntsmans are selling is threefold," she told the Deseret News. "Jon Sr. is originally from Idaho and he's a huge fly fisherman and he started going to Driggs years ago … buying up property there … right on the Teton River."

She said the Idaho property allows him to spend more time fishing. He also has begun working on building a development called Huntsman Springs, "so they are not using (the Deer Valley property)."

Besides the practicality issue, Corradini said Huntsman — a cancer survivor himself — is passionate about continuing the growth of the work done at the Hunstman Cancer Insititute.

"He wants to put as much money as he can into building new wings for the University of Utah Hospital and the cancer institute," she said. "His whole goal in life is curing cancer."

Huntsman purchased the property in 1989 and would prefer to sell all three parcels to a single buyer, Corradini said.

She said that if a new owner chooses, the land could be developed to accommodate the construction of several more homes on the vast acreage.

She noted that over the years, the Park City area has become a much sought-after location for many celebrities, investors and wealthy business people — making the likelihood of finding a potential buyer quite reasonable even in today's market.

Veteran Salt Lake-area realtor Dave Seiler with ReMax Associates told the Deseret News that finding a buyer for the property could be challenging, but certainly not impossible.

"It's a very targeted market," he said. "If you get activity, then you know you've priced it in an area where people are looking."

Corradini said the Huntsman Deer Valley estate has been on the market for about two months, and she has received valid inquiries from a few interested people.

"There's definitely several potential buyers out there, we just have to make sure they know it's for sale," she said.

e-mail: jlee@desnews.com