The 3-story, 62,000-sq.-ft. office building across from the Galleria that was once the headquarters for the Stanford Financial Group will at last go up for sale. Accused Ponzi schemer Robert Allen Stanford, awaiting his trial in a Conroe jail cell, had opposed the sale of any real estate owned by the corporations he controlled until 2 weeks ago, but subsequently changed his mind. A court ruling last week makes it official.
The office building at 5050 Westheimer sits on 1.6 acres and includes a 285-space parking garage. Also to be sold by Dallas court-appointed receiver Ralph Janvey in “stalking horse auctions”: Stanford’s Sugar Land airplane hangar, as well as other properties in Michigan, Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
What about those condos in the Stanford Lofts Downtown?
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U.S. District Judge David Godbey approved Janvey’s plan but ordered him to notify the Stanford Condominium Owner’s Association if he tries to sell property owned by the Stanford Development Corp, and give residents a chance to object.
- Judge okays sales of Stanford property [Reuters]
- Stanford building goes on block [Houston Business Journal]
- Previously on Swamplot: Allen Stanford’s Downtown Houston Loft Legacy: Tell it to the Arbitrator, Feds Now Raiding Stanford Financial Group Offices in the Galleria
Photo of Stanford Financial Group office building at 5050 Westheimer Rd.: Wikimedia Commons
I have been through this building and it is decorated entirely in a (expensive) mahogany-green marble color scheme, put in place about 10 years ago. There is a large Palladian skylight with an ornate stair connecting the upper levels. Sir Allen’s office was huge with floor to ceiling wood paneling with some impressive wood coffers on the ceiling. Allen wanted all the offices around the world to look the same, so they all used this exact same color scheme. The furniture was of the not-so-inspiring big heavy mahagony type and the art on the walls were bad Audubon print reproductions. What was so wierd about the office was how empty it was. This was 2002 and there was almost noone in the building, despite the extreme amount of money that he spent renovating it. There were rows and rows of empty offices and the parking garage had the same empty feeling. There was a private dining room and a commercial kitchen in the building also, with a full time chef (food was great!). The whole building seemed as if it was supposed to present an image of old money grace and prestige, but somehow, it just wasn’t quite right.
Couldn’t he just be happy with $100MM? That may have just gone unnoticed and he could still pretty much do anything he wanted for $100MM…but when $8B goes missing someone is going to notice. Some meglomaniacs will never learn.
Who wants to team up and buy those Properties in the US virgin Islands with me? That’s my hometown! 2772009@gmail.com
We all knew something was up with Stanford and this Westheimer building the moment he had all those old Oak trees removed (to the dismay of the Uptown District which was too lame to stop him) and planted gaudy palm trees.
… by the way, Houston, palm trees look terrible, stop planting them. They only look good when planted in a series/row, like at Highland Village, but planting them in your new McMansion’s yard when everyone else has Oak trees or similar is just plain lame and shows your lack of taste.