Texas farm supply businessman Chaz Neely is putting his Central Texas estate up for auction, aiming to sell it for nearly twice what he paid less than a year ago.
Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions will begin accepting bids in February for the property at 8536 Armstrong Road, located near Belton between Austin and Waco. The 13-acre estate features a section of Salado Creek and includes a 7,000-square-foot home with six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, seven fireplaces, an elevator, coffered ceilings, and a copper dome above the foyer. The house was built in 2001 by H. Barton and Jean Jones.
Bidding is scheduled to start on February 13 and conclude on February 28 with a live auction at The Biltmore Miami-Coral Gables in Florida. According to marketing materials from Concierge Auctions, opening bids are expected around $2 million. The seller hopes the final price will reach $6 million—the current asking price set by Neely with Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty agent Debbie Stevenson.
Previously, the Jones family listed the property for $3.8 million in March before choosing an auction route. Concierge opened bidding at $2.1 million last June; Neely acquired the estate for just under $3.2 million in July—a record sale for Bell County according to Stevenson.
Since purchasing the property last year, Neely has updated the home extensively, Stevenson said.
“We submitted it for the ModaMiami, which is the premier East Coast global auction platform for Sotheby’s — they do the really high-end cars at the same time — and the home was accepted,” Stevenson said.
Recent luxury auctions in Texas have seen properties sell below their initial asking prices. For example, a mansion in Southlake sold for $14.2 million after being listed at $27.5 million, while a Fort Worth castle fetched $6.7 million following an $11.8 million listing.
Neely owns San Antonio Steel Company and is known as a major donor supporting organizations such as the Texas Public Policy Foundation and Texas A&M University.
The Neelys are also selling their San Antonio residence at 11 Inverness Boulevard with an asking price of $7 million.
