Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks and well-known entrepreneur, has just purchased an entire town.
Mustang, Texas, is a small town located off Interstate 45, about 55 miles south of Dallas in Navarro County, near Corsicana.
Mustang spans only 77 acres, and census records show it has a population of just 23 people. At first glance, the town might be seemingly unremarkable, but its history is rather colorful.
The town was incorporated in 1973 to sell alcohol when most of Navarro County had prohibited liquor sales, serving as a watering hole in an otherwise primarily dry county however, by the mid-1990s, as nearby communities reversed prohibition laws and began selling alcohol, it had lost its alcohol-related appeal.
Beginning in 2005, Mustang was subject to a legal dispute over its ownership between Marsha McKie and Tommy Sinclair. Marsha was the wife of William “Bill” McKie, one of the partners that initially sought to incorporate the town, and Sinclair leased a nightclub there.
After McKie’s death, Sinclair was eventually awarded possession of the town, but not the deed, which resulted in two separate council elections and much disagreement.
For years, the only things in Mustang were Sinclair’s all-nude cabaret, called Wispers, and a trailer park. In 2008, a Houston man died at the strip club from injuries he sustained in an altercation. Sinclair was indicted for the incident.
The town was eventually put up for sale in 2017 for $4 million, but it never sold. Mike Turner, the Dallas real estate broker who had tried to sell the property, said there was some interest, but the price was too high, even when lowered to $2 million.
However, county deed records show a company controlled by Cuban bought the tiny town last month.
According to Dallas Morning News, Cuban said he bought the town to help a good friend who needed it sold. In an email, he said, “I don’t know what, if anything, I will do with it.”
