Turning Points
September 1988: Freeport-McMoRan purchases 2,200 acres of the Barnes-Connally development, the Estates of Barton Creek, which include the Barton Creek Country Club and an 18-hole golf course. Freeport buys the property for $60 million from Community Federal S&L of St. Louis.
December 1988: Freeport-McMoRan sells the country club to Robert H. Dedman and his Club Corp. of America Inc.
May 1989: Freeport pays $8.6 million for an additional 883-acre tract just east of The Estates and announces its intent to seek City Council approval on its Planned Unit Development.
June 1990: The Austin City Council rejects the PUD; Freeport CEO Jim Bob Moffett vows to bankrupt the city in legal battles.
June 1992: Freeport transfers its real estate holdings to a new subsidiary, FM Properties.
Late 1997: FM Properties severs its business ties to its parent company and renames itself Stratus Properties; begins trading on the Nasdaq exchange as STRS. Beau Armstrong becomes president and chief executive; begins scouting around for a new financial partner.
1998-99: Stratus forms three joint ventures with Olympus Real Estate, a Dallas-based firm run by the Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst, investment firm of Tom Hicks, owner of the Texas Rangers.
October 2000: City releases terms of a proposed settlement with Stratus.
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