SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email

Wednesday’s planned auction of a Sun Valley, Idaho, estate owned by Richard “Dick” Fuld, who led Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. into the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history, was postponed for four weeks to let more bidders take part.

“We received strong last-minute interest and have decided to reschedule the auction to Sept. 17 in order to allow those bidders and any others who qualify the chance to participate,” Kari Neering, a spokeswoman for Concierge Auctions, said in an e-mail. “At this point we have an opening bid of $20 million, and the ultimate price will be determined on auction day.”

Source: Relevance New York via Bloomberg

Bidders were required to deposit $500,000 to participate in the auction of Fuld’s Big Wood River Estate, a 71.3-acre (29-hectare) spread near the Sun Valley ski resort and bordered by a trout fishing stream. It is expected to sell for $30 million to $50 million, according to Laura Brady, president of New York-based Concierge Auctions. That would be less than the $59.5 million Fuld sought in a previous off-market listing for the estate, which includes a main home and adjacent buildings with a total of 11 bedrooms and 10 1/2 baths.

Fuld headed Lehman from 1994 to 2008, when the financial firm’s bankruptcy triggered a Wall Street meltdown. He decided to sell the estate because he rarely visited Sun Valley in recent years, Brady said.

Kitchen at Sun Valley Estate. Source: Relevance New York via Bloomberg

Fuld began assembling the property in the 1990s and commissioned architect Alan Wanzenberg to design the Adirondack-style rock-and-timber main home, service quarters and two guest houses, which were completed in 2002, according to the auction advertisement.

The previous disclosed U.S. record for an auctioned home is $19.25 million, for an estate in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Brady said.

Dining Table at Sun Valley Estate. Source: Relevance New York via Bloomberg