Opulent N.J. Manse Takes Bids: Unreal Estate
FAR HILLS, N.J. (
) -- The Froh Heim Mansion in New Jersey gets its name from the German phrase for "happy home." But there has been little in the way of happiness brought by a rough real estate market that has forced the luxurious estate to be
.
Concierge Auctions
, along with Prominent Properties
Sotheby's International Realty
(BID) - Get Report
, will conduct the auction. There's no reserve or minimum bid, meaning the final sale price could be anywhere from $1 to $10 million or more. Potential buyers will be required to submit financial information and bring a $100,000 cashier's check to take part.
Froh Heim was originally the home of Evander B. Schley, a mining industrialist who built his dream house in Far Hills, N.J. The town got its name after Schley's wife noted her beautiful view of the "far hills" from the property.
Architect F. Burrall Hoffman Jr. made some changes to the property in the 1930s. In 2007, New Jersey-based Heritage Premiere Properties bought the site, spending $1 million on renovations prior to putting it on the market.
After cutting the property's asking price from $8.9 million to $5.5 million and failing to attract any takers, the firm chose to go the auction route to recoup its investment. The bidding will begin at 11 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 26, at the mansion.
The main building, situated on 11 acres, has a stone and stucco exterior with Mediterranean-style architecture. It has 16 rooms, including seven bedrooms, eight and a half baths, an upgraded kitchen and eight fireplaces.
A 47-foot long banquet-style dining room features a limestone fireplace and a soaring ceiling lit by four elaborate crystal chandeliers. French doors open onto a formal courtyard garden with a fountain.
The realtor's description boasts of intricately-laid hardwood floors, moved and installed from a Spanish galleon and a French chalet. The library floor, which is original to the house, was imported from Czechoslovakia.
There's also a swimming pool with a cabana and fireplace, a separate "gentlemen's retreat" with its own wine cellar, a barn with eight stalls and two caretaker apartments. Expansive, walled gardens have been restored to their original state.
Lorraine Hunt Kopacz, director of luxury marketing for Prominent Properties, says the mansion is "one of the preeminent and most desirable estates in the Northeast."
"It's definitely a unique property and we hope to find someone who understands and appreciates the historic elements of it," Laura Brady of Concierge Auctions says. "It has been restored to include not only the modern amenities that will make it very livable, but also to heighten the historical qualities that the property possesses."
-- Reported by Joe Mont in Boston
.
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