Conrad Black sells mansion but stays put
Ex-media mogul to lease back Bridle Path home listed at $21.8M after swift deal negates auction
Conrad Black’s Bridle Path mansion has been sold, but the former media baron said he isn’t going anywhere.
Last week a secretive auction to sell the 6.6-acre property was called off before it even began because of a pre-emptive bid. On Tuesday Black confirmed that his home at 26 Park Lane Circle had, indeed, been sold.
“It’s a sale and lease-back with a possible buy-back, all on a reasonable basis,” he wrote to the Star in an email. “I expect we shall remain in the house for some years at least, and perhaps permanently.”
The sprawling mansion, built by Black’s father George Montegu Black, features nine bedrooms,11bathrooms, a pool, a spa and a chapel blessed by two cardinals.
Last month the home was listed with an estimated value of $21.8 million to be sold by auction. At the time, Black said the purpose of the sale was to downsize to something more practical.
“It is a big house for two people,” he was quoted as saying in a news release. “We will be abroad a good deal and moving to a more manageable home will be a convenience to us now as our careers have evolved.”
The auction for the Georgian-style residence was held at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Toronto but the gavel never had a chance to fall. As about 20 potential bidders sipped on wine and nibbled at canapés, an auction house representative announced that bidding was off.
“The auctioneer came out, apologized and said there was a pre-emptive bid, the property was basically in negotiation and would be sold later on that night,” said Jimmy Molloy, a Toronto-based luxury real estate agent.
Molloy said the would-be bidders looked around at each other in surprise but weren’t provided with any more information. Instead they were invited to bid on a case of wine, with the proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity.
“It’s a sale and lease-back with a possible buy-back, all on a reasonable basis. I expect we shall remain in the house for some years at least, and perhaps permanently.” CONRAD BLACK ON DEAL THAT OVERTURNED THE PLANNED AUCTION OF HIS BRIDLE PATH HOME
“I thought it was very professional, especially compared to sometimes when you’re sitting at the airport and your plane is delayed 45 minutes and nobody tells you why,” Molloy suggested.
Black — who once controlled Hollinger International, the world’s third-largest media empire — is a Canadian-born British citizen, made a life peer in the U.K. House of Lords.
After being convicted in 2007 in a U.S. federal court for three counts of mail and wire fraud and one of obstruction of justice, he spent 37 months in a Florida penitentiary. (Two of the fraud counts were overturned on appeal.)
In 2014, Black was removed from the Order of Canada and the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada.
The sale is just the latest in his liquidation of land assets.
He previously sold off a 2.8-acre slice of the Park Lane property at an asking price of $7.2 million, his British colonial-style mansion in Palm Beach sold for the equivalent of $26 million in 2011 and his London townhouse was reportedly sold for more than $23.4 million.
“The auctioneer came out, apologized and said there was a pre-emptive bid, the property was basically in negotiation and would be sold later on that night.” JIMMY MOLLOY LUXURY REAL ESTATE AGENT