TUCSON, AZ (November 6, 2024) -- The former International Wildlife Museum at 4800 West Gates Pass Road in Tucson sold at a Ten-X auction on October 24th for $1,010,625 ($19.68 PSF). Built in 1987, the three-story building consists of ±51,331 square feet on ±11.37 acres. The museum closed its doors on December 31, 2023.
The building is styled as a stone castle, with a pond-like mote and a 96-seat theater, commercial kitchen, cafeteria, two exhibit halls, conference rooms, storage areas, and office. The buyer was Troy and Lori Frey Trust of Tucson, who weren't ready to disclose their intended use of the property.
A pond in front of the building once housed Sonoran mud turtles and several species of rare desert fish, which were relocated to other safe-harbor locations across Arizona under agreements with state and federal wildlife agencies.
For 35 years, the International Wildlife Museum held more than 400 mammals, birds, and insect species. The taxidermied animals were relocated, and some less exotic animals were sold separately at auction. The seller, Safari Club International Foundation of Sugar Land, TX, operated the operation. Over the years, critics have criticized it for affording wealthy shooting safari participants a tax write-off when they donated the animals they shot and killed overseas.
The taxidermy and exhibits were relocated to new locations to continue educating the public on wildlife appreciation and the role of wildlife management conservation, including a tiger killed in India in 1969, a rhinoceros caught by President Theodore Roosevelt, penguins from Richard Byrd's South Pole discovery trip, and a wooly mammoth
Mindy Korth and Todd Noel with Colliers in Phoenix represented the seller.
Korth said the property could easily be turned into another museum, a performance hall, a worship center, a spa and retreat, or a medical facility. She added that the seller had hired a consultant to develop a list of possible uses based on the current zoning for Gates Pass, GZ2, which would prohibit high-density development.
For more information, Korth should be reached at 602.531.5538, and Noel is at 602.222.5190.
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