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Dodger slugger Gary Sheffield is selling his bay area home at auction. Want to look? Bring a $50,000 deposit.
By LENNIE BENNETT
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 8, 2001
ST. PETERSBURG -- For $50,000, you can take a peek inside Gary Sheffield's waterfront mansion in Pinellas Point.
But if you want to move in, it's probably going to cost you millions.
The Los Angeles Dodgers slugger has had his 11,000-square-foot mansion on the market since last year, but so far, there has been no buyer. So, the home will go on the auction block at 11 a.m. Oct. 23.
J.P. King Auction Co. of Gadsden, Ala., will conduct the sale. And representatives of the auction house are quick to say that the event will not be a fire sale.
"Two years is not a long time for a property like this to be on the market," said auction house president Craig King. "The rule of thumb in the industry is a year for every million. But Gary is ready to move on and is not willing to wait the year or more a sale through a real estate listing could take. This is not a distress sale."
It will be an absolute auction, King said, meaning "it will sell regardless of price."
King said the firm will have a marketing campaign to line up potential bidders.
But he could not estimate how many would be interested or how much the house might fetch.
"It's difficult to price these properties. It may or may not sell for more than the cost of construction," King said.
The house, finished in 1998, sits on 3 acres in Pinellas Point, overlooking Tampa Bay. At the time, Sheffield said construction costs were about $2.8-million, plus the cost of the property, which he bought for $600,000.
He married gospel singer Deleon Sheffield in February of that year. Then the Florida Marlins traded him to the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the couple spent more time on the West Coast. They listed their house here in 2000 for $4.3-million with Tourtelot Brothers Realtor Roy Siegle. The price was adjusted to $3.9-million, but no one signed a contract, Siegle said.
Aspiring owners should be advised that they must present a $50,000 check to register as bidders. "You can't just walk in and make a bid," King said.
That $50,000 will get you into the house as often as you like to look or have the house inspected, King said. Unsuccessful bidders will get that money back.
The auction, King said, "will not be the rapid-fire kind you're used to. This will be more sophisticated." He expects it to be over in about 30 minutes.
At that time, the new owner must write a check for 10 percent of the purchase price. The balance must be paid within 30 days.
Whether the house's furnishings also will be for sale has not been determined, nor does he know yet whether the Sheffields will be on hand for the auction.
"But he will have the assurance that his house will be sold on that day," King said.