A luxury estate built for RadioShack’s former chief executive officer is on the market for auction with a starting bid of $2.5 million.
Len Roberts, 74, the former CEO of Fort Worth-based RadioShack, and his wife Laurie are auctioning off their luxury Overton Crest Estate.
The auction will begin on April 24 at 9 a.m., according to Interluxe, the company marketing the high-end property. The auction page shows Overton’s previously listed price was $8.9 million.
Built in 2004, the Fort Worth estate sits on 1.82 acres of prime real estate at 4400 Overton Crest Street, just west of Texas Christian University (TCU). In 2022, Tarrant Appraisal District appraised the luxury estate at $4.1 million.
“I think what people are surprised about when they come here, it’s the craftsmanship of the home,” Roberts told The Dallas Morning News (DMN).
The French-style property constructed by homebuilder Rick Williams features five bedrooms and 10 bathrooms, separated across three floors. The hilltop estate has several high-end comforts, including a working elevator, lighting and music systems, iron doors, two independent garages that fit five vehicles, and many other in-house amenities.
Arlington-based architect Don Wheaton designed Overton Crest’s exterior, while Fort Worth-based Sandra Sampson Interiors handled the design work inside the estate.
One of the estate’s most talked about features is its theater room, which replicates the design of Chicago’s former Marbro Theatre.
“It was ornate,” Roberts told the DMN. “We literally researched and found the plans to the Marbro Theatre, and we duplicated it.” Many CEOs have home theaters, but “I’ve not seen a home theater like ours.” he said.
The Overton Crest Estate has a premium view of the downtown Fort Worth skyline and the TCU football stadium.
“There’s not a lot of properties in Fort Worth that have a view. That’s really hard to find,” commented Martha Williams, the real estate agent for the property.
In its heyday, the Overton Crest Estate hosted fanciful galas and exclusive parties for the region’s top executives. Now the couple is seeking a quieter and easier-to-manage property.
“The days of the big dinners and galas are over, and we just wanted to simplify our lives,” Roberts said, per DMN. “It was our dream home, and it really was time for us to move on.”
“It’s an amazing house in a fabulous location. It’s just time for them to move on,” Williams said, per DMN.
You can find more details about the property and auction house here.
I remember riding the subway.
2015
Remember when? RadioShack once was the heart and soul of Fort Worth
https://archive.is/GX5p1
PHOTO DESCRIPTION The subway at Tandy Center in downtown Fort Worth was popular with RadioShack employees, downtown workers and shoppers. The subway ran from Tandy Center to remote parking lots near the Trinity River.
ARTICLE EXCERPTS
RadioShack Corp. on Thursday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In a separate filing, the company notified the Texas Workforce Commission that more than 1,000 jobs are at stake as the retailer considers closing its Fort Worth headquarters and support centers in Tarrant County.
As the Shack shuts or dramatically scales back, it’s difficult to believe that it was once the heart and soul of Fort Worth, with its landmark Tandy Towers headquarters, a swanky shopping center and even an ice skating rink and its own subway system.
The company’s history dates to 1919, when two friends started the Hinckley-Tandy Leather Co. in Fort Worth, supplying leather shoe parts and supplies to repair shops, according to RadioShack’s web page. Two years later, two brothers…
… Enter Charles Tandy from Fort Worth, who was trying to diversify his niche leather crafts company by buying businesses with broader appeal. Tandy, a TCU graduate and World War II veteran, liked what he saw in Radio Shack. So the company then known as Tandy Corp. acquired the Boston company and moved the company’s headquarters to Fort Worth….