ST. LOUIS -- Family feud?
"I would say it's more of a family disagreement," said Billy Busch, who continues to lobby four siblings to change their minds about selling Grant's Farm to the St. Louis Zoo Association.
"There's four of them that would like to see Grants Farm go one way. There's two of us that would like to see Grants Farm go another way."
The fate of Grant's farm is now in circuit court. Billy Busch and his brother Adolphus want to keep Grant's Farm under Busch control. Four siblings want to sell the popular free attraction to the St. Louis Zoo Association for $300 million dollars. Billy Busch's proposed business plan includes buying the shares of four siblings, before embarking on a multi-million dollar revitalization plan that includes making Grant's Farm the headquarters for his Kraftig beer company.
Part of Busch's motivation is to preserve his family's legacy.
"I grew up at Grant's Farm with my brothers and sisters. It's actually the third generation of the Busch family home," said Busch. "InBev took over Anheuser Busch in 2008, they own all of that now. And this is really the last Busch legacy."
Meanwhile, zoo officials wait for the outcome. Matthew Geekie, president of the St. Louis Zoo Association sent an email statement to NewsChannel 5.
When the family asked the Zoo Association to save Grant's Farm, we told them that resolution of their differences was critical to our involvement in Grant's Farm. As a basis for resolving family differences, we put forward an idea-not a proposal-to lease land should Billy Busch be able to establish consensus among his family members and purchase the Farm. Pursuit of that idea is contingent upon the family's resolving its differences and together publicly supporting the resolution. We have not seen Billy Busch's business plan and it is not up to us to speak to that plan. Our attention must be on remaining the world's best Zoo. Until the family resolves its differences, the Zoo will be focused on pursuing its master plan for the Saint Louis Zoo ---with or without Grant's Farm.
Billy Busch remains optimistic.
""I say to my brothers and sisters, let's keep it in the family. Do what our father wanted. And that is keep it in the family."
His plan includes an offer of $24.1 million, corporate sponsorships, and leadership roles for each of his siblings.
A previous offer for Grant's Farm has come from the St. Louis Zoo Association at $26.9 million and an additional $3 million for an adjacent parking lot and pasture. AB-InBev currently holds the lease to the zoo and would fund the majority of the purchase.
The initial purchase may be mostly covered, but operational costs run an estimated $3.5 million to $8.5 million annually. Billy Busch's plan points out the zoo would need to pass a new sales tax to cover those costs.
“The extensive business plan we released today clearly reflects the desires of my father, who stated in his will that he wanted one or more of his children to buy Grant’s Farm, keep it in our family, and operate it for the public’s benefit for generations to come,” said Busch in a statement. “It does just that, and does so without requiring anyone to pay their hard-earned dollars in taxes to support the operation of this tremendous asset for the St. Louis community.”
Grant's Farm features more than 900 animals and offers free admission for more than 500,000 visitors annually. It was opened to the public in 1954 by Billy Busch's father, August "Gussie" Busch, Jr.
