LACRESCENT, Minn. – The high-end rural Winona County retreat and hunting estate of LaCrosse insurance entrepreneur Don Weber has been sold for $10 million. The purchaser: Bradley Bruggink, an avid hunter who lives near Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Weber, had asked $11 million for the estate, which he calls Weber Springs. The final transaction closed June 10 at $10,065,000. The 1,100 acres include:
> The headwaters of Pine Creek.
> Wooded ridges.
> A 7,400 square foot lodge.
> A 1,400-square house for a resident manager.
> A five-car garage.
> A stable for horses.
> A trout-stocked pond with an oar boat for fishing.
Weber’s sale to Bruggink is the largest Winona County land transaction in memory aside from primarily agricultural properties. The estate, to be sure, has tillable acres, but the corn is feed for deer, not for farm harvesting. The deer also have an orchard for apples. Weber’s fortune came from the giant Logistics Health, which he built from scratch in LaCrosse. He likewise fashioned Weber Springs from scratch. It’s handy to LaCrosse, less than 20 miles across the Mississippi River. Weber built up the property from a patchwork of parcels of ridge land and small farms over a course of decades. It’s now consolidated as a gated retreat. It’s near the nine-hole Pine Creek golf course.
Video in his own words: Don Weber interview
Bruggink profile
Bradley Bruggink founded Wisconsin Plastic Products in 1994 in Plymouth, Wisconsin, which is about 15 miles inland from Sheboygan on Lake Michigan. The company uses thermoplastic extrusion techniques to build custom equipment for industrial companies in telecommunications, data processing, refrigeration, and other sectors. Bruggink sold the company in January to Georgia-based Pexco. Although Bruggink’s company is now a Pexco subsidiary, he remains as chief executive. For Bruggink, his new hunting estate is a 220-mile trans-Wisconsin hop. Bruggink, who is 59 years old, lived at one point in western Wisconsin’s Trempealeau County in primary hunting country near Independence. His record as a hunter is mixed. In 2015 he was accused of using a liquid bait illegally to lure wildlife. He paid a $340 fine.