Jake Paul is not known for understatement. But even by his standards, the purchase was hard to ignore: a 5,746-acre sporting plantation in South Georgia, bought for $39 million in cash using earnings from his boxing match against Mike Tyson. The property is called Southlands, and it is one of the largest private land transactions in Georgia history. Paul revealed the deal on a podcast in June 2025, weeks after it quietly closed in April. Georgia’s Atlanta luxury real estate market gets most of the spotlight, but this purchase sits 250 miles south, in a corner of the state defined by longleaf pine forests, quail hunting, and Lake Seminole.
What does $39 million buy in rural South Georgia? A lot more than most people expect.
The Deal: $39 Million for 5,746 Acres
Southlands Plantation was listed at $42.5 million. Jake Paul bought it for $39 million, a discount of $3.5 million from the asking price. The sale was brokered by Jon Kohler and Walter Hatchett of Jon Kohler and Associates, a firm that specializes in high-end sporting properties across the Southeast.
The deal closed in April 2025 and sat quietly in the public record until Paul discussed it on the Iced Coffee Hour podcast in June. Kohler described the transaction as “the land ownership equivalent to owning an NFL team.” At 5,746 acres, Southlands is larger than many small Georgia towns.
The price works out to roughly $6,780 per acre. For context, the median price per acre in Decatur County runs around $9,500 for standard rural land. Trophy sporting properties trade on a completely different set of factors: historical pedigree, water access, managed wildlife habitat, and what amounts to irreplaceability. You cannot recreate 100 years of land stewardship.
A 100-Year History Worth Knowing
Southlands has a documented history that most luxury properties lack. It was first assembled in the 1920s and 1930s by Herbert Stoddard, a pioneering conservationist known as the father of prescribed burning. Stoddard’s work at Southlands helped establish the science of fire ecology and led to the founding of the Tall Timbers Research Station, which continues to influence land management across the South.
In 1937, Houghton Metcalf, a Rhode Island industrialist, purchased the rights from Stoddard and built a lodge on a 200-foot bluff overlooking what is now Lake Seminole. Metcalf developed it into a world-class sporting retreat, known for wild quail, turkey, and whitetail deer.
International Paper later acquired Southlands and operated it as the Southlands Experiment Forest, the flagship property of the company’s 12-million-acre timber operation. According to the listing, some naturalists have made a case that the area represents one of the most ecologically diverse properties in the entire Southeast.
The Lodge and Structures
The main lodge was originally built in the 1940s and has been renovated while preserving its original character. It measures 4,884 square feet, with eight bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. The location is one of the more compelling aspects of the property: the bluff position above Lake Seminole gives the lodge unobstructed water views across more than 37,000 acres of lake.
Beyond the main lodge, the property includes a 2,696-square-foot manager’s house and several additional guest homes. An 1,800-square-foot horse barn and a dog kennel round out the working ranch infrastructure. For a sporting estate, the kennel is as important as the barn. Southlands is primarily known as a quail hunting destination, and serious quail operations depend on purpose-bred pointing dogs.
The architecture is classic Southern vernacular: wide porches, natural materials, and a floor plan that accommodates large groups. The guest capacity across all structures makes Southlands viable as both a private retreat and a venue for the kind of large-scale entertaining Paul is known for.
The Land: Lakes, Wildlife, and Forests
The headline feature is the 4.5 miles of Lake Seminole frontage. Lake Seminole sits at the Florida-Georgia border where the Flint and Chattahoochee rivers converge, covering more than 37,000 acres. It is one of the premier bass fishing lakes in the South, and Southlands’s shoreline gives Paul direct water access across one of the longest private frontages on the lake.
The property also has a 30-acre duck pond, a 20-acre Eagle Lake, and five miles of spring-fed creeks. The terrain rolls from 80 to 310 feet in elevation at the southernmost extent of the Appalachian Mountains, creating the habitat variety that makes Southlands exceptional for multiple species. Wild quail, turkey, and trophy whitetail deer all inhabit the property in sustainable numbers.
Quail hunting is the reason serious sporting buyers pay a premium for South Georgia plantations. The region sits inside what hunters call the quail belt, a stretch of the Southeast where longleaf pine management and native bunchgrass understory support wild bobwhite populations. Managed hunting properties here regularly produce eight to twelve coveys in a single morning. That is exceptional by any standard.
The land also includes irrigated fields suitable for farming and, according to the listing, fertile Class I and Class II soils. The organic capacity of the property makes it productive beyond hunting, with potential for agriculture alongside the recreational uses.
Why Trophy Ranches Command Premium Prices
Sporting plantations in South Georgia have attracted wealthy buyers for more than a century. They are inherently limited in supply: the combination of water frontage, managed quail habitat, historic lodges, and substantial acreage simply does not exist in large quantities. Properties with even one or two of those features trade at strong premiums. A property with all of them rarely comes to market.
The broker’s comparison to owning an NFL team is not entirely hyperbole. Both represent assets with finite supply, a defined peer group of buyers, and prices that reflect scarcity as much as utility. Jake Paul paid $39 million for a property that, by Kohler’s description, is a once-in-a-lifetime transaction.
Georgia’s celebrity real estate story is not limited to Atlanta. Tyler Perry’s Atlanta compound, which spans more than 30,000 square feet in Buckhead, represents one end of the Georgia luxury market. Southlands represents a different kind of ambition: not a city compound, but a managed natural landscape purchased at a scale that takes significant capital to acquire and sustain.
How Jake Paul Funded the Purchase
Paul was transparent about the funding source. He used approximately $30 million earned from his November 2024 boxing match against Mike Tyson at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The event was streamed on Netflix to roughly 60 million viewers, making it one of the most-watched boxing events in history. Paul won by unanimous decision. He reportedly earned between $30 million and $40 million from the fight.
“I’ve been wanting to buy a ranch for the past 15 years,” Paul said on the podcast. “It cost $39 million. It’s massive. It’s a little bit bigger than I wanted, but when I got there, I was like, ‘I have to buy this.'”
The math is notable: Paul converted a single sporting event into a generational land asset. At his current net worth of approximately $100 million, the Southlands purchase represents a significant allocation toward hard assets, consistent with the investment philosophy he has discussed publicly in multiple interviews.
What Paul Plans to Do With Southlands
Paul mentioned hunting, fishing, jet skiing, ATVs, horses, and cattle as the reasons for his interest in ranch ownership. Southlands is well-positioned for all of those uses. The lake frontage supports water sports, the ponds support fishing, and the managed land supports hunting. The horse barn and existing infrastructure can support livestock operations without significant additional capital.
Paul has also moved further into boxing and MMA promotion through his Most Valuable Promotions company. Southlands could function as a content creation venue, the kind of remote property that generates ongoing material for his social media presence. That combination of recreational use and content production potential is increasingly common among celebrity landowners.
NFL defensive end Leonard Floyd, who plays in Atlanta, also made a significant Georgia real estate investment. His Atlanta mansion in Buckhead represents the urban end of the Georgia celebrity real estate spectrum. Southlands is something different: a private domain at a scale most real estate buyers will never encounter.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much did Jake Paul pay for the Southlands Plantation?
Jake Paul paid $39 million for Southlands Plantation in April 2025. The property was originally listed for $42.5 million. The sale was brokered by Jon Kohler and Associates and is considered one of the most expensive private land transactions in Georgia history.
Where is the Southlands Plantation located?
Southlands Plantation is located in Decatur County, Georgia, near the town of Bainbridge. The property sits at the southernmost foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and has 4.5 miles of frontage on Lake Seminole, which sits on the Georgia-Florida border.
How big is the Southlands Plantation?
The property spans 5,746 acres, which is roughly nine square miles. The main lodge is 4,884 square feet with eight bedrooms and five and a half bathrooms. Additional structures include a 2,696-square-foot manager’s house, several guest homes, a horse barn, and a dog kennel.
Why is Southlands Plantation historically significant?
Southlands was assembled in the 1920s and 1930s by Herbert Stoddard, the conservationist who pioneered prescribed burning science. It later passed to Rhode Island industrialist Houghton Metcalf in 1937 before being acquired by International Paper, which operated it as one of the most studied timber forests in the country.
Why are sporting plantations in South Georgia so expensive?
Trophy sporting properties in Georgia’s quail belt are expensive because they are inherently limited in supply. The combination of managed quail habitat, large water frontage, historic lodges, and substantial acreage rarely comes to market in a single parcel. Buyers compete for assets that cannot be replicated through new construction or land assembly.
What does Jake Paul plan to do with the ranch?
Paul has mentioned hunting, fishing, ATV riding, jet skiing, horses, and cattle as his intended uses. The property supports all of those activities given its lakes, managed wildlife habitat, horse barn, and natural terrain. The scale of the property also offers potential as a content creation venue given Paul’s media presence.
The Bottom Line
Jake Paul spent $39 million on 5,746 acres of historically significant land in South Georgia. The property has 4.5 miles of lake frontage, a century of documented land stewardship, managed quail habitat, and a main lodge that has hosted serious sportsmen for nearly 90 years. It is a different kind of celebrity real estate transaction, less about square footage and more about owning a self-contained natural domain. For a buyer with $39 million and a lifelong interest in the outdoors, it is a defensible decision by any standard.
