Did New Tanning Bed Law Force Brooks Reed to Put His $10 Million University Park Home on the Market?

Let’s face it, we have all hit a tanning bed at some point in our lives, much to the dismay of our skin and dermatologists. But starting this year, at least, kids under the age of 18 are banned from the places in Texas. That’s because there’s plenty of research linking exposure to UV or ultraviolet light and melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

“We know that the use of tanning beds during adolescence and early adulthood really increases the early onset of melanoma,” says Dr. Jeffrey Gershenwald at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. “In fact, starting indoor tanning before the age of 18 increases melanoma risk by 85 percent.  Here in Texas melanoma is 4th overall.  About 4,000 individuals are expected to develop invasive melanoma this year alone.”

KERA News reported last month that the American Suntanning Association says the new law could force businesses to close and actually lead to unsupervised tanning and sunburns. Ouch!

So now the glorious home of Palm Beach Tan CEO and Bestway Rent-to-Own chairman Brooks Reed has hit the market with Allie Beth Allman for $10,950,000. The Volk Estates treasure evokes the classic grandeur of the stately European manors, particularly after I have just finished reading designer extraordinaire Timothy Corrigan’s Chateau Du Grand Luce, getting my copy just last night. Of course, Corrigan’s chateau was 45,000 square feet, Brooks’ is only 12,000 but it has a boathouse, a stonebridge, a watchtower and even it’s own soccer field on .92 acres right in the heart of University Park.

The sprawling home took 4 years to renovate (as did, coincidentally, Corrigan’s chateau in the Loire Valley) with design by Dallas architect Ralph Duesing, a genius. There are 11,681 square feet of elegant living space, six bedrooms, seven and one-half baths, a covered terrace, outdoor fireplace, two elevators, pool & spa, totally jazzed out gourmet kitchen, a knocked out master with built-ins, coffee bar, dual master baths, fireplace, shower body sprays, steam shower, jetted tub, linen closet, separate vanities, and a sitting room off the master, and of course closets the size of all five New York City boroughs. There are glorious balconies, and a loggia with full breathtaking views of Goar Park plus access to Turtle Creek.

Of course you’ve got to wonder if there is a tanning bed hiding somewhere in there. Though the home was built in 1936, it was effectively redone in 1998, and then again from 2000 to 2004.

That address is just so familiar to me… hmmm. Brain cells simmering. No interior photos yet because this home just hit MLS. I cannot imagine that the new law will change business all that much for Palm Beach Tan. I mean, there is always spray-on.