Real Estate / Mansions

A $100 Million Steal?

A Billionaire Banker Buys the Most Expensive Mansion In Texas History on “Discount”

BY // 01.21.16

The man who once infamously gave Alex Rodriquez a historic $252 million baseball contract has shattered another big money ceiling. Former Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks sold his $100-million-listed Dallas mansion in the largest single home sale in Texas history.

And Hicks is likely to feel much better about this deal in the future than he did the A-Rod contract.

Hicks’ mammoth payday comes out of billionaire banking tycoon Andrew Beal‘s supersized fortune. The 63-year-old Beal, who dropped out of Baylor University and is considered a self-taught math and investing genius, can more than afford to splurge on a house like no one in Texas has ever quite splurged before. Beal’s estimated net worth comes in at more than $10 billion.

He almost makes Damian Lewis’ character on the new Showtime series Billions look like a small-time player.

The mansion Beal bought in this record deal is certainly worthy of any Master of The Universe that Tom Wolfe has written about. The Hicks Manse measures in at a whopping 27,092 square feet. That includes 10 bedrooms — the master bedroom is more than 3,000 square feet on its own — and 17 bathrooms. All of this is in Preston Hollow, arguably Dallas’ most coveted neighborhood. The mansion sits a street over from George W. Bush’s house.

It’s real estate; location is still king. Even when it comes to a sprawling complex that comes with its own two-story guest house and another separate “entertainment” building that houses a lavish home theater and massive game room. ”

“The Hicks Estate is the only estate in Dallas and Preston Hollow that offers a land size of 25-plus acres and architecture that could not ever be duplicated again,” Allie Beth Allman, the real estate agent who sold the mansion, tells the Dallas Morning News. “An estate of this magnitude may never be available again in Dallas.”

Beal, whose is also a fanatical math-geared poker player, didn’t exactly go all in on this purchase. When you have $10 billion, a near $100-million buy has no chance of sinking you. But he certainly didn’t take the “cheap” option, either. The billionaire also looked at a nearby mansion that’s listed for $46 million before pulling the trigger on the Hicks Estate.

The four-story mansion dates back to the 1938 and originally gained famed as the Crespi estate. Hicks bought it in 1997 and turned it into the behemoth it is today with an extensive renovation. He may even end up losing money on this sale. There are some estimates that Hicks and his wife, Cinda, spent nearly $100 million on the mansion makeover.

Two years ago, Hicks originally listed the mansion for $135 million. At least, he can console himself by noting that this is still much better than the A-Rod deal. And equally historic. One hundred million and the most expensive home sale in Texas ever is nothing to sneeze at.

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