The Pillsbury Mansion on Lake Minnetonka has been on the market for 2 years this October. No big surprise that at a price of $53.5 Million, there haven’t been any takers. For luxury uber real estate at this magnitude, it could take five or more years to find the right buyer, especially in Minnesota.
Instead of waiting that period of time out, the owners of “Southways“, the name of the estate, have decided to try the auction route. Sheldon, Good and Co out of Chicago is the auction firm handling the sale, and they are offering the estate as a whole, or as five separate waterfront parcels.
I honestly don’t like the sound of that solution. Nothing like this estate exists, save the James Hill Mansion in Saint Paul. But this mansion sits on a rare property, what with its sweeping grounds, mature landscape, and formal gardens. Who knows how old some of the trees are that grace the property? All around Lake Minnetonka, large parcels of land have been divided up with large homes placed on smaller and smaller lots. It seems to me that the beauty of the area is soon to be dried up with homes as far as the eye can see. It will be interesting to see what happens to this beauty.
Situated on Brackett’s Point, the Pillsbury Estate is a 13 acre gem on Lake Minnetonka, and has only had two owners during its long lifetime. The current owners bought the home in 1991 when the original owner Eleanor Pillsbury, who was 104 years old at the time, died. The current owners hired the Beyer Blinder Belle architectural firm out of New York (known for their restoration work on Grand Central Station and Ellis Island) in 1992 to return the home back to its former glory, costing millions of dollars.
The home is being auctioned via sealed bids which must be delivered to the Auction firm by December 9th, 2009. It can be viewed by appointment only October 22nd, October 28th, November 1st, November 8th, November 18th, November 22nd & November 29th.
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The luxury real estate market is hurting, so new tactics have to be made. I agree though that this property is just too special to be divided up.
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