The next chapter in Jake Paul’s arc? Owning Georgia’s priciest recreational property ever.
The YouTuber-turned-professional boxer purchased Southlands, a 5,700-acre sporting ranch in South Georgia, for $39 million, about $6,800 per acre, earlier this year, he said on a podcast.
The Decatur County property, about 10 miles south of Bainbridge and 40 miles from Tallahassee, was listed for $42.5 million, its first time on the market in nearly a century, Robb Report reported.
It was the most-expensive recreational land transaction in Georgia history, according to Jon Kohler & Associates, which brokered the deal. The seller was philanthropist and land investor Jim Dahl.
Southlands is a former hunting plantation turned high-end sporting retreat, offering a mix of managed forests, wetlands and fields along the Flint River and Lake Seminole.
The property includes a 5,000-square-foot lodge, two manager’s houses, a remodeled guest home, a 30-acre pond, a horse barn and a other amenities designed for hunting, riding and fishing.
Paul, 28, said he used the majority of his $30 million winnings from last year’s highly promoted Netflix-streamed fight against Mike Tyson to fund the purchase.
“I’ve been wanting to buy a ranch for the last 15 years,” Paul said on the podcast. “I grew up going to a cabin a lot with my dad, so I’ve always just wanted to go back to that.”
The estate was assembled in the early 1900s by Herbert Stoddard, a pioneering conservationist and co-founder of the nonprofit Tall Timbers. He pieced together a 26,000-acre tract. It was purchased in 1937 by Rhode Island senator and industrialist Houghton Metcalf, who built the lodge overlooking what is now Lake Seminole.
International Paper took over in the 1950s, turning the land into a teaching forest and regional headquarters for its timber operations. It remained under corporate ownership until 2010, when Dahl acquired it as part of a 160,000-acre portfolio.
The purchase underscores the rising appeal of large recreational estates among high-net-worth buyers, particularly in the Southeast, where hunting and fishing properties have seen increasing institutional and private interest.
It also adds another trophy asset to Paul’s growing portfolio — he’s previously owned luxury homes in Puerto Rico, Los Angeles and Miami.
— Judah Duke
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