Breaking Dallas Real Estate News: Champ D’Or Going to Real Estate Auction March 30

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I have been sitting (or rather, skiing) on this news for about a week now, verifying. Listing agent Joan Eleazer with Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s has confirmed that Champ D’Or, the 48,000 square foot Turbeville Road mansion up in Hickory Creek, near Denton, French baroque castle meets Plano McMansion dream chateau, clearly the most outrageous home in Dallas, or rather, North Texas, will be auctioned off March 30.

Not sure yet what Champ’s reserve will be — that’s the “base price” that a seller agrees to sell for before the auction, so you don’t end up giving a $32 million property away for like $3 million because, let’s face it, we’d all want that! I need to dial up Pat Kirby at Grand Estate Auctions for Auction Review 101 — Pat just sold a home in Lahaina, Hawaii for $4.48 million. There were 13 bidders from Canada to Florida.  The home had been on the market for three and a half years!

Champ D’Or has been on the market since the day it was completed in 2002, priced from $72 million to $35 million, depending on the land tossed into the deal, the market, or the owners’ whim. You could open a boutique agency with all the agents who have listed (and $$$ marketed!) Champ, the latest being Joan who was also, ironically, the first. The owners of the property are Alan and Shirley Goldfield, he the cellphone mogul, she the one who re-created Chanel’s Paris boutique in her master closet: it is outfitted with 18K gold doorknobs, a vanity with an antique chair purchased in France, a $30K custom gold chandelier, made in Florence, a custom iron railing modeled after the famed mirrored one in the Chanel store on Rue de Cambon in Paris, and a $10K custom area rug with the brand’s intersecting-C logo.

“When I built this closet, I tried to think of everything that I would need,” Goldfield told HGTV when they filmed the closet.

Champ has been on every media outlet that exists, too!

Full disclosure: I took Champ to Pebble Beach Concourse D’Elegance this summer, and it was the most talk-about home at the car show. Yes, it even turned the head of Jay Leno!

Champ D’Or is ten years old this year, and is probably the only 48,000 square foot house in the world that has never been lived in. The price includes, we think, the main house, a pool and tennis house, outdoor swimming pool, tennis court, adjacent lake, and up to 25 acres of beautiful treed property. Upon turning into the beautiful esplanade that leads to the front of the property, matching guardhouses direct one into the treed mega mega acreage. Beautifully landscaped and meticulously maintained by trained staff even though the house is still technically vacant, the grounds offer vistas, including a 1½ acre lake to the west of the main house. There is a large garden room that may be used for year round entertaining which stretches across the rear of the home and opens to a veranda that can seat 450 people.

The east wing of the home is comprised of the men’s and women’s powder rooms (yes, plural) and an exceptional master suite. Here are the goodies in that suite: a breakfast bar, wet steam room, weight room and master bath with a two-story Chanel styled closet for her and equally lavish man’s closet, as well as a private hair salon. Off the master there is an indoor ionized lap pool.

On the second level there is a theater/media room with lobby and access via the east elevator. Then there’s the Wedgewood suite: a living area with fireplace, bedroom with breakfast bar, luxurious guest bath, and adjacent laundry room. A second suite has 2 bedrooms, each with a private bath, and is perfect for guests with young children.

The third floor has a lovely ballroom complete with men’s and ladies powder rooms (again, plural), a catering kitchen, and incredible storage. There is also a third floor suite with living room, dining room, full kitchen and 2 bedrooms with separate baths.

The lower level is comprised of a 2 lane bowling alley, full racquet ball court, garage which can house 10-15 cars, laundry room with commercial washer and dryer and sheet press, wine room, and gift wrap room. You could eat off the floor in that garage. There are two elevators in the home, 130 tons of heat and air, and an office area on the second floor of the library.

According to a great story in D CEO, one of my favorite magazinesChamp is “The Best Little Teardown in Texas”. A financial firm named The Stanford Group (heard of them?) once made a serious play to provide Goldfield’s company, Cellstar, $25 million in needed capital. Cellstar’s board refused to reply to the offer, and the deal never went through. Just think what might be happening to that house if they had accepted that moola. Alan Goldfield is a telecommunications billionaire, hence some also call this the House that Talk built. I’ve heard rumors that Mehrdad Moayedi, head of Carrollton-based property developer and investor Centurion American Development Group, who paid $4.55 million for the Stoneleigh Hotel, made an offer that the Goldfields found too low. Oh oh, I’m giving away my next story…

 

Candy Evans, founder and publisher of CandysDirt.com, is one of the nation’s leading real estate reporters.

27 Comments

  1. Critic on February 22, 2012 at 7:57 am

    Can you imagine if this home was located on the Dallas Country Club site ? Imagine the auction interest ! And the assessment on the DCAD tax roles would be less than $10 million too !

  2. Critic on February 22, 2012 at 7:57 am

    Can you imagine if this home was located on the Dallas Country Club site ? Imagine the auction interest ! And the assessment on the DCAD tax roles would be less than $10 million too !

  3. Alex Roostaei on February 22, 2012 at 8:41 am

    Every time I see this house I'm reminded on the Hicks/Crespi mansion, wonder what kind of price tag that property could demand.

  4. Alex Roostaei on February 22, 2012 at 8:41 am

    Every time I see this house I'm reminded on the Hicks/Crespi mansion, wonder what kind of price tag that property could demand.

  5. Deidre on February 22, 2012 at 10:22 am

    Wow, when I first started covering luxury real estate back in 2004 this was one of the first homes I became obsessed with. It's had so many prices over the years but it's truly one of a kind. It's too big to be livable, is there any possibility it could be turned into a hotel or B&B?

  6. Deidre on February 22, 2012 at 10:22 am

    Wow, when I first started covering luxury real estate back in 2004 this was one of the first homes I became obsessed with. It's had so many prices over the years but it's truly one of a kind. It's too big to be livable, is there any possibility it could be turned into a hotel or B&B?

  7. Karen Eubank on February 22, 2012 at 11:38 am

    I LOVE this house. Sure it's in an awkward location but all you really need is a helicopter to make it perfect.

  8. Karen Eubank on February 22, 2012 at 11:38 am

    I LOVE this house. Sure it's in an awkward location but all you really need is a helicopter to make it perfect.

  9. […] Champ D’Or Estate Heads To Auction [Candy's Dirt] […]

  10. […] Champ D’Or Estate Heads To Auction [Candy's Dirt] […]

  11. Kristi Valentine on February 22, 2012 at 1:54 pm

    Burning question is why did the billionaire couple decide not to move into their dream castle?

  12. Kristi Valentine on February 22, 2012 at 1:54 pm

    Burning question is why did the billionaire couple decide not to move into their dream castle?

  13. Candy Evans on February 22, 2012 at 3:11 pm

    I think they enjoyed the building process. It can be addicting!

  14. Candy Evans on February 22, 2012 at 3:11 pm

    I think they enjoyed the building process. It can be addicting!

  15. RH on February 22, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    Tacky

  16. RH on February 22, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    Tacky

  17. […] maybe free: tell me the name of each and every agent who has listed Champ D’Or before Joan Eleazer and for how long the listing was. First reader to get it right gets a free ticket to Agent ReBoot Dallas, February 29, a $49 value […]

  18. […] maybe free: tell me the name of each and every agent who has listed Champ D’Or before Joan Eleazer and for how long the listing was. First reader to get it right gets a free ticket to Agent ReBoot Dallas, February 29, a $49 value […]

  19. Pat Kirby on February 23, 2012 at 5:39 pm

    Thanks for the plug about our Maui sale Candy! I enjoyed our talk. As I mentioned, me and the rest of the team at Grand Estates Auction Company also just sold a nice house in Scottsdale, AZ about two weeks ago. That one went for $4,620,000 and we had 12 qualified bidders from Vancouver, Chicago, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis, and the local Phoenix area.

    Next up three great properties…..a luxury condo in The Fours Seasons overlooking downtown Miami and Biscayne Bay, a fabulous ski-in/ski-out property in Beaver Creek, CO, and then an absolutely beautiful oceanfront home on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. More to announce for the summer months too!

    Best regards,
    Pat

  20. Pat Kirby on February 23, 2012 at 5:39 pm

    Thanks for the plug about our Maui sale Candy! I enjoyed our talk. As I mentioned, me and the rest of the team at Grand Estates Auction Company also just sold a nice house in Scottsdale, AZ about two weeks ago. That one went for $4,620,000 and we had 12 qualified bidders from Vancouver, Chicago, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis, and the local Phoenix area.

    Next up three great properties…..a luxury condo in The Fours Seasons overlooking downtown Miami and Biscayne Bay, a fabulous ski-in/ski-out property in Beaver Creek, CO, and then an absolutely beautiful oceanfront home on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. More to announce for the summer months too!

    Best regards,
    Pat

  21. […] I told you last week, Champ D’Or is going to be auctioned off in a special, select residential real estate auction o…. The auction will be handled by Concierge Auctions, who only deal in the highest of high end […]

  22. […] I told you last week, Champ D’Or is going to be auctioned off in a special, select residential real estate auction o…. The auction will be handled by Concierge Auctions, who only deal in the highest of high end […]

  23. […] creating and selling are two different things. The Goldfields, who are not (contrary to media-fueled rumors) among the World’s Billionaires, have chosen to offer the property up in a non-distressed […]

  24. […] creating and selling are two different things. The Goldfields, who are not (contrary to media-fueled rumors) among the World’s Billionaires, have chosen to offer the property up in a non-distressed […]

  25. […] is one of the most written-about homes in Dallas, and everyone south of the Mason-Dixon has certainly heard about it. It is Champ D’Or, the 36,000 […]

  26. […] is one of the most written-about homes in Dallas, and everyone south of the Mason-Dixon has certainly heard about it. It is Champ D’Or, the 36,000 […]

  27. […] Champ D’Or Estate Heads To Auction [Candy’s Dirt] […]

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