The $36.2 million sale of a gated luxury estate in Dallas' Old Preston Hollow — once owned by former Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks — set a U.S. record as the highest price paid for a residential property hitting the auction block when it sold in late December.
Apparently, it was still a bit of a fixer upper.
Now, seven months after buying the 28,000-square-foot, 10-bedroom, 12-bath mansion on Walnut Hill Lane, Dallas-based investor/developer Mehrdad Moayedi has renovated and is attempting to flip it. The asking price for the estate — once widely marketed for $100 million — is a mere $38.5 million.
For a full tour of the renovated property, see more photos here.
Moayedi has carved roughly 10 acres off the 25-acre estate to make room for five more building sites for luxury homes destined to rank among North Dallas’ finest.
Moayedi renovated the house and reworked the grounds of the estate. He remodeled the main house, which dates to the 1930s, and put in a new entry, landscaping and winding drive.
After subtracting the new home sites on the front of the property along Walnut Hill, the European-style property — also known as the Crespi estate — is left with more than 14 acres plus a roughly 3,300-square-foot guesthouse and a 4,800-square-foot pool house.
Allie Beth Allman, founder of Dallas-based Allie Beth Allman and Associates, is listing the property.
The home and grounds are considered by some architects to be among the most architecturally significant private estates in the country.
Designed in 1938 by world-renowned architect Maurice Fatio, the estate was commissioned by Italian Count Pio Crespi and his American wife, Flo Crespi. Count Crespi had been sent to Dallas by his Italian family to establish trade for their cotton empire, according to this account by TopTenRealEstateDeals.com.
After moving in, the Crespis entertained lavishly, playing host to presidents, celebrities and dignitaries from around the world. The Crespi family stayed in the main house until 1997.
Subsequent owners doubled the size of the property to 25 acres, making it the largest single residential property in central Dallas, expanded the original 10,000-square-foot mansion to 28,000 square feet, added a two-story guest house and a separate three-bedroom home, and made other additions and renovations.
Moayedi, CEO of Centurion American Development Group, bought the home last year from Dallas banking mogul Andy Beal in an auction run by New York City-based Concierge Auctions.
