Zuckerberg, Brady, and ... Michael Minogue: GOP gubernatorial candidate owns $31 million home in ultra-exclusive Montana enclave

From 2,900 acres of private ski terrain to a manicured golf course, the wealthy members of the Yellowstone Club near Big Sky, Montana, get to enjoy amenities only available in a place Forbes dubbed the “World’s Most Exclusive Club.”

Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates both reportedly own homes there. Former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s real estate portfolio included a Yellowstone Club home, at least before his divorce from Gisele Bündchen. Patriots owner Robert Kraft has been cited as a member.Even Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce reportedly celebrated there after their nuptials.

Also a member and homeowner there? Michael Minogue, the state GOP-endorsed candidate running for Massachusetts governor. The Hamilton Republican has campaigned on a platform of understanding the financial pains of voters grappling with the state’s dual housing and affordability crises.

Minogue’s home has a market value of $31 million, according to Montana records, and provides another level of insight into the former medical device company executive’s vast wealth and potential connections as he pumps millions of his own dollars into his gubernatorial bid.

The Globe confirmed Minogue’s homeownership in the Yellowstone Club through land records, with the contractor that built his six-bedroom, eight-bathroom house, and with one of Minogue’s childhood friends who said he’s repeatedly visited him at the private ski community in southern Montana.

Minogue had previously acknowledged that he owned a property in Big Sky, but had not disclosed the details, value, or location. A 238-page financial disclosure Minogue was required to file as part of his gubernatorial bid lists properties he owns in Massachusetts, but not elsewhere. Public officials and candidates are asked to disclose only properties they own inside the state.

Minogue, like the other major party candidates running for governor, has also declined to release copies of his tax returns that could offer a more complete window into finances. The first-time candidate has already put at least $15 million of his own money toward his bid.

Elizabeth Hopkins, a spokesperson for Minogue’s campaign, did not make him available for an interview nor addressed questions about Minogue’s home in the private community. She called his financial disclosure “one of the longest and most transparent” ever filed by a gubernatorial candidate, adding that the state’s rising costs of homeownership “is just one element of the affordability crisis Mike is focused on solving.”

“The only homes Mike is concerned about are the ones hardworking Massachusetts families have been priced out of as a result of economic stagnation and failed leadership,” Hopkins said in a statement.

Minogue’s campaign also claimed the market valuation of the home and land was “overinflated.”

Minogue’s 10-acre property sits steps away from the Yellowstone Club’s “Camphouse,” a clubhouse with a 75-foot heated swimming pool, pickleball and tennis courts, and a seasonal ice rink.

A limited liability company dubbed “Mount Zion 10” purchased the property in 2020, according to records in Montana. Minogue is not listed on the business filings, but a Boston-based attorney who coordinates Minogue’s other trusts is included on the paperwork, the records show.

Shawn Johnstun, a custom home builder, confirmed in a Globe interview that he built the house for Minogue. Johnstun said the project started in 2022 and took about two and a half years to complete.

“I didn’t have a lot of interaction with them, to be honest with you. But what interaction I did have, they were great to work with,” Johnstun said of Minogue and his wife, Renee. “They were super nice people. Very family oriented.”

Johnstun described the Yellowstone Club as being “for the super wealthy that want their own private ski resort and golf club.”

Robert Neuner, the chair of a super PAC backing Minogue and a friend who has known him since childhood, said Minogue’s home at the Yellowstone Club is “really nice” and was designed by the couple.

Neuner said he first went to the club with Minogue roughly four years ago and traveled there again last year. Neuner said he believes Minogue was introduced to the club “by some of his friends in the Boston area that belong there.”

“Michael dug ditches and pools for a living growing up, so he’s definitely earned every cent that he’s made,” Neuner said. “I don’t think Michael views the club as a haughty place to go. I think he views it as a nice place to take his family and have an elevated ski experience.”

Minogue, a US Army veteran who in a campaign ad touted digging pools as a summer job, joined the Danvers-based biotechnology company Abiomed in 2004 after more than a decade at GE Healthcare.

Other gubernatorial candidates have varying assets. Republican Brian Shortsleeve owns multiple homes, including a $12 million seaside property in Barnstable, a condo in downtown Boston, and a house in Wellesley. Governor Maura Healey does not own any property, but lives with her partner in Arlington, according to her campaign.

Minogue has another connection to the Yellowstone Club — his $22.5 million family foundation has donated at least $25,000 to the Yellowstone Club Community Foundation, according to tax filings from 2021 and 2023.

He has drawn political support from clubemployees, too.

Bill Collins, the director of sales at the Yellowstone Club, donated $1,000 to Minogue in October and another $1,000 in January, according to campaign finance records. Collins declined to comment “across the board” when reached by phone.

“I am not at liberty to discuss any of that,” he said.

The Yellowstone Club is set across 15,200 acres “high among untamed peaks” near Big Sky, a mountain town that also plays host to the ski resort by the same name, according to the club’s website.

The club was co-founded in the late 1990s by former billionaire Tim Blixseth, but it fell into bankruptcy in 2008 following Blixseth’s divorce from his third wife, the Associated Press reported. It was purchased out of bankruptcy for $115 million by Boston-based CrossHarbor Capital, a private equity firm in which Minogue’s own private equity fund says it invests.

Father Val Zdilla of the St. Joseph Mission, a church in Big Sky, said Minogue and his family attend Mass at the church. Zdilla said he last saw Minogue at the end of winter, when he said Minogue mentioned his political bid.

“I see them more in the winter than the summer, to be honest with you,” Zdilla, 71, said in an interview.

Zdilla said he travels to the private community “quite often” when someone is sick or dying, but admitted he feels out of place there.

“How can I say this nicely?” he said. “I do not feel very comfortable around that kind of wealth, I guess. I didn’t come from it, so it’s all kind of crazy for me.”

In order to become a member of the club, a person must pay an initiation fee, buy a home located on the club premises, and pay annual dues, according to court documents filed in a case brought in 2018 by Jamaican-born workers who claimed the club discriminated against them. The workers reached a $1 million settlement with the club in 2021.

The club’s website does not disclose the cost to join and maintain membership, but homes within the premises of the community regularly run more than $10 million, according to a Globe review of property records.

Zdilla said he’s seen a few “familiar faces in town on and off over the years,” including Justin Timberlake, who at one point was a member of the club, according to the 2018 lawsuit. But it’s not just pop stars he’s run into.

“Tom Brady, I crossed paths with him on a hike with my dog,” Zdilla said.