Champ d'Or mansion goes up for auction on June 28 with an opening bid at $10.3 million. Champ d'Or took five years to build at a price of $46 million. Cameron Roe

The second largest estate in Texas, the Champ d’Or, went up for auction June 28. Located in the city of Hickory Creek in Denton County, the estate’s sale is being conducted by Concierge Auctions, a New York City-based real estate auction firm.

The estate was built in 2002 by Alan and Shirley Goldfield at an estimated cost of $52 million. The couple lived on the property for only two years, which left the estate vacant until it was acquired by the Tabini Group, a commercial real estate company, in 2012.

Alan Goldfield was the president of CellStar Corporation and is currently the CEO of the National Auto Center Inc.

“[My wife] wanted to build what she called the greenhouse,” Goldfield said. “I sold a million dollars worth of stock, put aside the money for capital gains, and then gave the rest to her. Out of that came mostly Champ d’Or.”

The estate’s construction was inspired by Vaux-le-Vicomte, a baroque style French chateau located southeast of Paris, France.



“The reason for the mansion – [my wife] loves French, which so do I,” Goldfield said. “Truth is, I had nothing to do with it. She met with the architects [and] the builders.”

Zaf Tabani, CEO and president of the Tabani Group, has lived in the estate since 2012, but is choosing to downsize to move closer to his grandchildren. Tabani is putting the estate up for sale with the aid of Concierge Auctions.

“My current seller (Tabani) bought it via auction through Concierge Auctions five years ago,” said Susan Sacher, the project sales manager at Concierge Auctions. “It’s an outstanding property, and [Tabani] is a very savvy real estate businessman, so I think he saw a good opportunity and was happy to acquire the property at auction.”

In terms of size, Champ d’Or is the second largest in the state, topped by the Crespi-Hicks estate in Dallas. Though Champ d’Or spans 48,000 square feet and Crespi-Hicks 50,000, the difference is negligible.

“Many of the features here are copies of quite authentic things,” said Joan Eleazer, vice president of Sotheby’s International Realty, in a promotional video for the estate. “Beautiful chandeliers that were crafted in Europe, lots of wonderful detail in the mill work, and the paintings throughout the house.”

The materials used in the construction were “the best money could buy,” Goldfield said. The furniture alone cost $5 million and was all imported from France – with the exception of a chandelier, which was from London, England, Goldfield said.



The reason for the short-lived stay at the estate by the Goldfields was its size.

“It was too big! It was just way too big,” Goldfield said.

The estate features a 20 car garage, a bowling alley, racquetball and tennis courts, as well as three fully equipped apartments for guests and staff. It also features an incredibly large ballroom.

“The third floor was the ballroom because she liked to give parties, especially for charity,” Goldfield said. “The ballroom was beautiful, had a catering kitchen, and it was big enough to sit 100 people. Ten tables of 10, leaving room for a 6-8 piece band and the caterers.”

Another possible contributing factor to the estate’s sporadic ownership is its location. Hickory Creek is a pleasant town, but a far cry from the exclusivity typical of neighborhoods housing mansions.

Preston Hollow, the neighborhood in north Dallas where Crespi-Hicks estate is located, has its own newspaper titled Preston Hollow People and nearly all of its residents send their children to private schools. Notable residents include former U.S. President George W. Bush, businessman Mark Cuban, Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks and a litany of other business executives, politicians and celebrities.

Champ d’Or on the other hand is less than a mile from both a mobile home community and a Walmart super-center. While the location has practical benefits, such as the close proximity to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, its location is considered abnormal for a luxurious property.

The estate has an extra measure of safety included in its construction.

“Interestingly enough, every window on the front was in bullet proof glass,” Goldfield said. “[It’s] because of the concern that … there’s a few crazies in the world [who] would see such a beautiful thing, and would just shoot at it.”

Goldfield said such an incident never happened.

The estate’s construction budget was $52 million, and the opening bid is expected to begin somewhere between $5.5 to $10 million during its auction. In order to participate in the bidding, a $100,000 fee is required upfront.

“The quality is unsurpassed,” said Eleazer. “That’s one of the things that’s so amazing in this home. It would be difficult to recreate it today.”

Featured Image: Champ d’Or mansion goes up for auction June 28 with an opening bid at $10.3 million. The mansion took five years to build at an estimated price of $52 million. Cameron Roe