Going, Going, Gone: Last Week It Was the Versace Mansion, This Week It's the M Mansion

The M Mansion auction is tomorrow at 4:00 p.m and I will bring you full coverage!

From V to M. You may have heard last week that the Versace Mansion finally sold at auction in Palm Beach. Originally, the seller was asking $125 million — not kidding — then dropped the price to $75 million. Of course, the marketplace prevailed and Joe Nakash, the Jordache King, plopped down $41.5 million, outbidding Donald Trump’s son and Palm Beach Polo owner Glen Straub to buy the notorious mansion last Tuesday.

“We will ask the Versace family if we can use the name,” said the new owner, who is president of New York-based Jordache Enterprises. He said he was prepared to pay royalties for the use of the Versace name if allowed.

I hope the Mascolos, owners of the M Mansion,  are paying attention. Maybe the new buyer will pay royalties to them to continue calling it the M Mansion even after the sale? Cha ching cha ching!

The Nakash family apparently intends to run the Versace mansion in connection with the Hotel Victor, which they already own, which is right next door. Trump was the back-up bidder for the mansion with his offer of $41 million.

But Nakash trumped Trump.

The sale was approved by a bankruptcy court hearing last Wednesday, so it’s a done deal.

Bidding started at $25 million, which was the reserve. There is no reserve for the M Mansion auction, though I know at least one bidder has offered $1.5 million. And the M Mansion actually has a much nicer history than the Versace Mansion — no one was killed there, and no serial fraudsters have dampened the house juju.

Designer Gianni Versace was shot to death on the front steps of his mansion, which was then snagged up by former telecommunications tycoon Peter Loftin. Loftin struggled to create a business at the mansion, which became more difficult after a Ponzi schemer named Scott Rothstein invested with him, dragging the poor mansion into fraud lawsuits for years. It took a village — a team of attorneys, real estate agents and auctioneers to help sell it through Fisher Auction Co.

Concierge Auctions is handling the M Mansion auction which begins at 6 pm up there at the North Dallas Forty. Cocktails start at 4 p.m. and if I was Concierge (or any auctioneer) I’d sure make those drinks as stout as an oak barrel. I mean Everclear. There won’t be any looky-loos up there to drink it, either, as all bidders have had to be pre-screened and vetted to make sure they are able to afford the place.

By the way, the South Florida Business Journal reporter who scooped “20 other reporters” on the Versace sale details says he listened to the auction through the bushes… around the corner from the mansion. Didn’t say whether he was standing on public or private property, and I am not going to ask. Way to go, Paul Brinkmann!!!