Alex Karp and a Portfolio Built on Seclusion
Alex Karp has created one of the most influential software companies in the world, but his real estate decisions are going against the grain of the publicity. The co-founder and CEO of Palantir Technologies prefers to work in remote, private and hard-to-find locations, and his real estate investments are no exception.
He is reported to have a primary residence of a 500-acre estate in Lyman, New Hampshire, one of the smallest towns in the state, which he purchased for $825,000 in 2019. In June 2025, months before Palantir announced it was relocating its headquarters from Denver to the Miami area, an entity associated with him purchased a $46 million mansion on the Venetian Islands in Miami. He has also been linked to a nearby waterfront home on the same island, and the two are estimated to be worth almost $75 million and are believed to be the beginning of a compound. According to one count, he now owns over $200 million in real estate in approximately 20 properties.
A Record Sale for the Former St. Benedict’s Monastery
Karp has bought St. Benedict’s Monastery, a 3,700-acre site in Old Snowmass, Colorado, 30 minutes from Aspen, for $120 million. The sale was closed on December 15, 2025, and recorded in Pitkin County via a limited liability company called Espen LLC. The Wall Street Journal, citing a source close to the transaction, identified Karp as the buyer, and said he intends to live in the property.
It is the highest residential sale price in Pitkin County history, beating the previous record of $108 million for an Aspen mansion in 2024. It also was priced significantly lower than the $150 million asking price of the property. The estate was listed by Mirr Ranch Group and Douglas Elliman in April 2024, and a first contract in March 2025 was cancelled before the Karp deal was finalized.
The sale also brought an end to 70 years of monastic life. The land was purchased by the Trappist monks in the 1950s and the monastery was established in 1956, with the monks living off the land by raising cattle and chickens. In 2022, the order’s governing chapter decided to close the community, due to an aging and declining population, and the last public Mass took place on January 11, 2026. The sale had to be approved by a department of the Holy See, the Colorado Sun reported, citing canon law, which requires it for a sale of this magnitude.
The future is still uncertain. Karp told the Journal he will continue to maintain the land with the previous users and the sale also contained an access easement to allow families and members of the order to visit the monastery cemetery. Earlier efforts to place a conservation easement on the land, including a county proposal valued at $27 million in 2022, never came to fruition. Despite this, Pitkin County’s land use regulations restrict new development, and any change in the use of the monastery or retreat center to residential would require county approval, and some of the changes may go to the county commissioners.
FactsmAbout the Property
| Feature | Details |
| Property Size | 3,739 acres |
| Main Building Size | 24,000 sq. ft. |
| Architectural Style | 12th-century Cistercian abbey-inspired |
| Year Built | 1950s |
| Retreat Center | 6,000 sq. ft., added in 1996 |
| Water Features | Capitol, Lime, and Little Elk creeks |
| Irrigated Land | 1,200 acres |
Property Timeline
- 1950s: Trappist monks acquire land in the Capitol Creek Valley
- 1956: St. Benedict’s Monastery is founded in Old Snowmass
- 2022: The order votes to close the monastery; Pitkin County floats a $27 million conservation easement that never closes
- April 2024: The 3,739-acre property is listed for $150 million
- December 15, 2025: Espen LLC, reported to be Alex Karp, closes on the property for $120 million
- January 11, 2026: The monastery holds its final public Mass
