Jessica Pegula Is a Top Tennis Star but Her Family’s Real Estate Portfolio Is the Real Story
Jessica Pegula walked off the Wimbledon court on July 7 after losing to Coco Gauff in three sets. She won the first set 6-4, then dropped the next two 6-3. Another quarterfinal exit. No drama, no excuses. Just a professional athlete already thinking about the US Open in August.
That composure makes more sense when you understand where she comes from. A family that built a $9.3 billion empire from a $7,500 loan.
A mother who survived a cardiac arrest that nearly ended everything. And a property portfolio across seven states that most people have never seen mapped in full.
The Origin Story Nobody Tells Correctly
Terry Pegula grew up in a coal mining family in Carbondale, Pennsylvania. He studied petroleum engineering at Penn State, then founded East Resources Inc. in 1983 with $7,500 borrowed from friends and family.
He ran it for 27 years and sold the majority of its assets to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion in 2010.
Kim’s story is different. Born in Seoul, South Korea, adopted at five, raised in upstate New York. After college, she walked into a restaurant in Belfast, New York, looking for a waitressing job.
Terry was eating there. They married in 1993. She became the operational engine behind everything that followed, eventually serving as president and CEO of Pegula Sports and Entertainment and the first female president of both an NFL and NHL franchise simultaneously.
Then in June 2022, Kim suffered a cardiac arrest at home on her birthday. Her daughter Kelly, who had learned CPR just three months earlier, kept her alive until paramedics arrived.
Kim survived but has dealt with brain damage, memory issues, and expressive aphasia since. Pegula Sports and Entertainment was dissolved in August 2023.
Jessica wrote in The Players’ Tribune: “She was the woman behind my dad’s success. She jumped into this journey with him and learned many lessons along the way.”
The Sports Empire
The gas money became sports money fast. Buffalo Sabres in 2011 for $189 million. Buffalo Bills in 2014 for $1.4 billion in cash, beating bids from Donald Trump and a Jon Bon Jovi backed consortium. That was an NFL record at the time.
They also built LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo, co-own Black River Entertainment in Nashville with artists like Kelsea Ballerini and Craig Morgan, and own Sound Stage Studios on Music Row.
Plus the Buffalo Bandits and Rochester Americans round out the sports side.
Jessica’s career ran parallel to all of this. She turned pro in 2009, moved through Pittsburgh and South Carolina for training, and eventually settled in Boca Raton.
She bought her own five bedroom home there in 2017 for $900,000 and still lives there today with her husband Taylor Gahagen and their dogs.
When people assume she lives lavishly off family money, she is consistent: “People think I have a butler, that I get chauffeured around, that I have a private limo, that I fly private everywhere. I’m definitely not like that.”
The Properties, State by State
Most coverage lists these homes like a real estate catalogue. Here is what gets skipped every time.
Florida is the family base. Camelot Farms in Boca Raton is the main estate: 12 acres, 14,000 square foot eight bedroom mansion, 40,000 gallon heated pool with waterfall and spa, air conditioned garage built for two stretch limousines, two tennis courts, half basketball court, and a stable with 35 foot ceilings.
Purchased in 2010 for $6.5 million, the same year East Resources sold to Shell. They also own a second smaller equestrian property in the Horseshoe Acres community, picked up in 2014 for $585,900.
Jessica’s own home sits just minutes away. The family built a quiet compound across a few square miles of Boca Raton.
New York is where the business roots run deepest. The East Aurora estate is 12,311 square feet on 54 acres, purchased in 2018 for $2.5 million about 20 miles from Buffalo. They sold a waterfront condo in Buffalo’s Pasquale Tower for $1.15 million in 2021.
The most interesting New York property is Sunbeam Lodge in Saint Regis Falls in the Adirondacks. This was formerly owned by Shania Twain and producer Mutt Lange.
The lodge dates back to the early 20th century, and Twain expanded it to 28,000 square feet with a recording studio. The Pegulas bought it for roughly half of the $9 million asking price and restored it in classic Adirondacks style.
This pattern of high profile homes quietly changing hands keeps showing up across the celebrity real estate market. Elisha Cuthbert’s LA home finding a buyer after a four year break from Hollywood is a good reminder of how these transactions rarely happen the way people imagine.
Tennessee is business infrastructure. A five bedroom, 9,694 square foot estate in Brentwood for $2.2 million in 2017, overlooking the Governors Club golf course. Directly connected to Black River Entertainment and Sound Stage Studios on Music Row. Not vacation homes. Working assets.
Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Nevada complete the picture. A Wexford estate outside Pittsburgh owned since 1998.
A four bedroom oceanfront condo in Hilton Head bought in 2005 for $4 million. Adjoining units at the MGM Signature Grand on the Las Vegas Strip for entertainment travel.
You can read the original Realtor.com breakdown of the Pegula portfolio for the full detail. But every state connects to a business, a team, or a chapter in this family’s actual timeline. None of it is random.
There is a WhatsApp channel that covers moves like these as they happen, worth checking out if you want to stay ahead of these stories without waiting on the news cycle.
This Matters
Terry Pegula paid $1.4 billion for the Buffalo Bills in 2014. According to Sportico’s 2025 valuations, the Bills are now worth nearly $6 billion. That is a 4x return in roughly ten years, in the second smallest media market in the NFL.
The real estate portfolio follows the same logic. Nothing bought for show. Everything tied to a purpose: training, teams, music, or operations. That is not how most billionaire property stories work, which is exactly what makes this one different.
It is the same pattern you see when Justin and Hailey Bieber quietly paid $12 million for a Manhattan condo designed like a fortress, or when Orlando Bloom’s former Beverly Hills home hit the rental market at $31K a month with his personal design touches still inside.
Behind every big property move, there is always a bigger story.
Jessica sits at the center of it all but on her own terms. No. 4 in the world. Wimbledon quarterfinals at 31. US Open final in 2024. She built that ranking while living in a $900,000 home she bought herself, training out of the same city where her parents own a 12 acre equestrian estate.
Her mother was courtside at last year’s US Open watching her compete, still in recovery, still showing up. That detail tells you more about this family than any property price does.
Key Takeaways
- Terry Pegula started East Resources in 1983 with $7,500 and sold majority assets for $4.7 billion in 2010
- The Pegula family is worth an estimated $9.3 billion as of 2025
- Properties span Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Nevada
- Camelot Farms in Boca Raton is the primary estate, 12 acres, purchased for $6.5 million in 2010
- Jessica owns her own home in Boca Raton, bought for $900,000 in 2017, separate from her parents’ portfolio
- The Pegulas bought Shania Twain’s Adirondacks lodge for roughly half of the $9 million asking price
- The Buffalo Bills, bought for $1.4 billion in 2014, are now valued at nearly $6 billion
- Kim Pegula survived a cardiac arrest in June 2022 and continues rehabilitation today
Which part of this family’s story surprises you most: the scale of the real estate, the sports empire, or the fact that Jessica still lives in the $900K home she bought herself? Drop your take in the comments below.
Wrapping Up
A coal mining town kid who built a billion dollar gas company. A woman who met her husband while looking for a waitressing job and ended up running one of the most complex sports ownership groups in the country.
A daughter who is No. 4 in the world and still insists she does not have a butler.
Kim showing up at Bills training camp in July 2024 while still in recovery puts the whole picture in context. This family keeps building, keeps going, and keeps showing up.
If stories like this are your thing, Build Like New covers celebrity real estate, big family fortunes, and the human side of luxury markets on the regular. Worth bookmarking if you want more than just the headline.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. All figures and property details are based on publicly available records and reports at the time of publication.
