This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2005, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Multimillionaire sports agent Dwight Manley scored Karl Malone's Salt Lake City mansion at auction Thursday for a paltry $2.75 million - less than half of what the Mailman hoped to get for the 17,230-square-foot trophy home.
Manley phoned in the winning offer on his client's former home after the bidding, which started at $1 million, began to stall near $2.5 million.
"He got a steal," said Jaren Davis, president of the Utah Association of Realtors. "He basically bought it for half its value."
Davis said the 2-acre parcel underlying the home alone is worth $500,000 to $700,000. To build an eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom home that size costs at least $4.5 million, he added, not including the pricey amenities Malone added - a pool and water slide, indoor shooting range, basketball courts and a home theater.
"Karl put some things in there that are extraordinary - and extraordinarily expensive," Davis said.
And the home's majestic views of the Salt Lake Valley? Priceless.
The Mailman, who did not attend the auction, has been trying to sell the mansion since August 2003, after committing to leave the Jazz for the Los Angeles Lakers and shortly before dropping more than $5 million on a new home in Newport Beach, Calif.
Malone originally listed the property at 930 Northvale Way for $6.1 million, later cutting the price to just less than $5.8 million. Earlier this year, he took the home off the market and contracted with J.P. King Auction Co. of Gadsden, Ala., to conduct Thursday's auction, held on site.
Eager to unload the property, Malone opted for an absolute auction, which means he declined to set a published or unpublished minimum price. "We have found that we get our best results with absolute auctions," said Carl Carter, J.P. King spokesman.
In a statement, Thayne Fisher, vice president of Malone Properties, which manages Malone's real estate holdings, said he was satisfied with the result.
"We set out to sell the home at the market price, and with a nationwide campaign that drew a strong field of bidders, we're satisfied that we achieved that," he said.
Manley, who owns a number of businesses, including those specializing in real estate and rare coins, did not return calls seeking comment about the auction. He was one of 12 registered bidders, and the only one who did not attend the auction.
Afterward, auction company president Craig King called the winning bid "fair . . . When it is time to sell, you have to take what a buyer is willing to pay."
However the property was sold, only a tiny pool of potential buyers existed. Buyers needed an extraordinarily high income - or a lot of cash - to not only buy the property but also to pay housekeepers and groundskeepers, cover huge utility bills and meet property tax obligations approaching $28,000 a year.
While Malone built his family's home in Salt Lake City to be near the Delta Center, many people with that kind of money to spend on a luxury home often buy in the Park City area, said Davis of the Utah Association of Realtors. Others want to build their own mansion, just the way they like it.
Malone did just that about eight years ago, hiring residential architect Michael Falash of Boise, Idaho, to design a home in one of Salt Lake City's most desirable neighborhoods with easy access to the Delta Center.