55-bedroom home near Houston still for sale for $3.5 million a year later

This 60,175-square-foot brick structure with at least 55 bedrooms and 55 full baths in Brazoria County is priced at $3.5 million. Listing agent is Christy Buck at RE/MAX Top Realty. This 60,175-square-foot brick structure with at least 55 bedrooms and 55 full baths in Brazoria County is priced at $3.5 million. Listing agent is Christy Buck at RE/MAX Top Realty. Photo: Courtesy Of Christy Buck Team At RE/MAX Top Realty Photo: Courtesy Of Christy Buck Team At RE/MAX Top Realty Image 1 of / 44 Caption Close 55-bedroom home near Houston still for sale for $3.5 million a year later 1 / 44 Back to Gallery

Creative ideas for a long-vacant home near Houston with 55 bedrooms are as big as its 60,000-square-foot floor plan.

"Everybody has an idea for it, a 'want' for it," said Mona Miller of the Christy Buck Team at RE/MAX Top Realty in Houston. "But most people don't have the ability to purchase it."

Built in 2001 near the Houston suburb of Pearland but apparently unfinished and never occupied, the house at 2354 County Road 59 in Manvel is listed at $3.5 million. It is designed for at least 55 bedrooms and 55 full baths and would be ideal for some type of institutional use, said Miller, who has been showing the property for more than a year.

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A potential buyer signed a contract in October, but the next month the city of Manvel annexed the site, as part of an expansion totaling about 300 acres. The entire annexation was zoned residential, and because the would-be buyer of the gigantic house wanted to use it for some type of group home, the project would have required a zoning change.

"That contract was supposed to close in February, but the buyer decided he didn't want to go through the zoning change," Miller said.

City officials have been open to a variety of proposed uses for the property and seem willing to work with a buyer to get the necessary zoning, Miller said.

"The one thing they do not want is a straight-up apartment complex," she said.

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Despite the hurdles, interest remains high in the property, where construction started on a post-surgical rehab center but was left unfinished.

"We used to get a hundred calls a month, but now it's down to about 25," Miller said.

Miller still shows the property at least a couple times a month, the most recent one being on Friday.

"I could probably show it 24-7 if I wanted to," she said. "I'll be out there showing it and people will drive up and ask to do a walk-through."