forrest lucas

Conseco Mansion Sells For a Song To Lucas Motor Oil President

Filed under: Estates

It seems to be a good week for unloading hard-to-sell megahouses. First we heard about the sale price for Dunellen Hall, now in Indiana the pink palace known as Le Chateau Renaissance has sold for $3 million to Forrest Lucas, founder and president of Lucas Oil motor oil. The home is the former estate of Stephen Hilbert, the one-time head of the firm Conseco. Conseco, which is now insurance company CNO Financial Group Inc. put the home up for auction earlier this year. CNO took the house in 2005 after a dispute with Hilbert over millions he borrowed from the company to buy its stock.

We first saw this home in 2006 when it was the the 2006 Decorators' Show House. The estate was once valued at $25 million but was listed at $20 million in 2006. An auction of the household possessions raised more than $750,000 in February 2005. More recently the home was listed at $9.9 million. WIBC says that Lucas and his wife Charlotte toured the home in 2008 but didn't make an offer. He opened negotiations five weeks ago after hearing that the property might be divided into smaller units. At first his bid of $3 million was rejected but after another deal fell through an arrangement was made.

Tags: carmel, estate, forrest lucas, indiana, indiana real estate, lucas oil