The palace that chicken built is headed to the auction block again. The grand East Texas estate built by the late chicken tycoon Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim is in Pittsburg, about 130 miles northeast of Dallas.
Known locally as “Cluckingham Palace,” the 43-acre property has an 18,000-square-foot French Renaissance-style mansion with six bedrooms and 10 and a half baths.
The Pilgrim estate has a huge indoor swimming pool and spa and parklike grounds with a pond. There’s also a greenhouse and a 2,450-square-foot manager’s home.
Pilgrim, who died in 2017, became a billionaire when his family’s chicken business, Pilgrim’s Pride, grew into one of the largest in the country. After a bankruptcy, the company moved to Colorado in 2011.
The Pilgrim estate in Pittsburg was auctioned in late 2019 with bids topping $3 million. The property sold to a Canadian buyer who planned to convert it to an exclusive rehabilitation center, but the project never materialized.
Other potential buyers looked at turning the property into an executive retreat.
Earlier this year, the mansion was put back on the market with an asking price of $4.995 million. Now Concierge Auctions has scheduled a bidding for the property next month.
The estate has a reserve auction price of $2.495 million. Century 21 Harvey Properties is marketing the one-of-a-kind estate.
