Andy Beal Talks About Selling the Crespi Estate, aka Walnut Place

Late today Concierge Auction released a statement from Walnut Place owner Andy Beal, who has decided to place the most expensive estate home in Dallas up for auction. Could this set a new standard of selling mammoth estate properties?

“It’s an incredible property by all standards,” stated current owner Andy Beal, a Dallas banker, investor, and philanthropist. “With their unique sales process and proven track record, Concierge Auctions has my full confidence that this is the best way to showcase this one-of-a-kind property on a global scale.”

That’s what he said.

I have been telling you that auctions are a tool in the real estate tool box that seem to be getting more attention, especially for the larger, hugely specialized “someone else’s dream” properties.

We know, too, that Heritage Auctions Real Estate, owned by our local Heritage Auctions, is in the real estate auction business big time and, in fact, successfully sold off the O’Neil Ford-designed Penson estate on Armstrong Parkway last year for $4.950M. Honda honcho Lute Riley bought the house and then tore it all down. They also sold former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert’s Park City ski house for $4.2M, among many others.

Now comes a new division within Heritage Real Estate Auctions: The Executive Platform. The EP program will focus on moving middle priced properties, from $500,000 up to $2 million, with speed, transparency, and vetting.

Elite Auctions successfully sold the first house in toney Vaquero to ever go to auction. And Concierge has been banging the auction gavel in North Texas for years, ever since the Goldfields sold their Champs D’Or via auction to the Tabani family in 2015. At one point the Goldfields had Champ D’Or listed for $72 million, having claimed they spent $65 million to build it from 1998 to 2002. I recall Shirley Goldfield telling me she added the doves to the central foyer rotunda after 9/11. Shirley loved all things French in the Château de Versailles, particularly its Hall of Mirrors, which served as the inspiration for the mirrored ballroom in Champ d’Or. Ditto her closet as an exact replica of the Chanel Boutique in Paris.

What do you think Walnut Place  will sell for? Who do you think will buy it? And will the property remain an intact 25.5 acre parcel or be subdivided, as is the future for the estate of the late Gladys “Siss” Carr (widow of William Plack Carr) whose 8.85 acres at 6700 Forest Lane and Hillcrest (house fronts on Wander Lane) just sold to become 8 one-acre estate parcels. Recall, too, that The Creeks of Preston Hollow (Inwood and Royal) was once a contiguous piece of North Dallas acreage until Hillwood bought and developed it into luxury homesites back in 2008.

And of course, this is exactly happened to Deion Sander’s spread, also about to be auctioned. Can this be the new future of estate properties in North Texas?

Allie Bath Allman says the 25.5 acres of the Beal estate can be subdivided, with a one acre minimum lot size. Of curse, roads would have to go in, and the developer would have to figure out how to keep Walnut Place/Crespi properties intact and private. The guest house stands alone as  complete residence.

Perhaps a developer could tack on an extra $150,000 per home just for membership in the recreational center, movies, and massages. Now that’s a clubhouse!