Mark Cuban buys entire 77-acre ghost town of Mustang, Texas for $2 million as a 'favor for a friend' who struggled for years to sell it: There's nothing but a boarded up strip club that was once the scene of a grisly murder, a trailer park and a 'resident alligator in a pond'
Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, has ponied up $2 million to buy a once-bustling Texas town that gained infamy for a grisly murder at its strip club and now has a lone alligator living among a population of fewer than two dozen.
The 77-acre town known as Mustang, 55 miles south of Dallas, in Navarro County off Interstate 45, had been listed for $4million by Dallas brokerage firm J. Elmer Turner several years ago.
The asking price was slashed in half when there were no takers for the roadside hamlet after being on the market for four years.
Cuban has said that he purchased the town because a good friend needed to sell it.
The 77 acre town of Mustang, Texas has been sold to Mark Cuban for $2 million
Mustang even has its own volunteer fire department, as well as a state approved sewage plant
A sign at an intersection announces that Mustang, Texas, is for sale. It was originally listed in 2017 for $4 million but there were no takers
Dallas billionaire and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban now the owns the town of Mustang, Texas which he purchased for $2 million
The principal owner, attorney Marty Price fell ill earlier this year before passing away in August.
He was a devoted basketball fan with Mavericks floor seats. NBC News reported.
'Did it to help out a friend. No plans yet! I don't know what if anything I will do with it,' Cuban said in an email to the Dallas Morning News.
'There is a little store and some mobile homes,' listing agent Mike Turner told DailyMail.com. 'It's off Interstate 45. There is also a state approved sewage plant in the town and a 7,000-square-foot vacant warehouse.
'I had a fair amount of interest in it, but it was priced too high — even when we bought it down to $2 million. The old strip club is not in good repair, but it could be redone for something.
A truck drives by a now long shuttered strip club in Mustang, Texas, pictured in 2006
There are some mobile homes on the property and the entire town could be used for a mobile home community
Mustang previously hosted an 'all nude' strip club and was one of the few areas around to sell liquor before local laws changed
The principal owner of the town was Dallas attorney Marty Price, pictured, who fell ill earlier this year before passing away in August. He was a devoted basketball fan with Mavericks floor seats
'There is a resident alligator in one of the ponds.
'With Cuban's resources and imagination, I'm sure there are endless possibilities.'
Now that Cuban owns the place, he could even rename the town if the few Mustang resident don't appeal.
According to the latest census, the town has a population of 23.
But Mustang is far from a paradise. In 2008, there was a killing at Wispers nightclub which made headlines around the state.
Mustang, which was settled in the early 1970s, was known as a 'wet town' - or a town that was permitted to sell alcohol, which was rare oasis in the Bible-thumping Lone Star State.
Areas surrounding Mustang during its heyday were 'dry towns,' where the sale of booze was not permitted.
One of Mustang's old fire engines is seen sitting on the grass at the side of the road
Mustang volunteer firefighter Kenneth Vaughn prepares a fire truck for inspection by state regulators in Mustang, Texas. Pictured in 2017 when the town first went up for sale
The site of the former strip club 'Whispers' sits on the property and is now a vacant warehouse
In April 1973, Mustang voters approved an initiative to incorporate it as a 'wet' town.
'It was the only wet spot around until liquor sales changed. It had an illustrious strip club called Wispers,' which is now the empty warehouse,' Turner added. 'It was a boomtown in the alcohol business. There was a long line of cars from Corsicana and all-around Navarro County here.'
People who had been making the hour-long drive to the town for their beer runs where able to line up locally in Mustang at The Gusher.
The Gusher was so popular that when it burned down one day, a temporary establishment was erected in its place before the end of the business day.
There was even a beer garden called Little Scholtz's where students from Navarro College, in nearby Corsicana, would gather at the picnic tables and party.
According to the town's census records report it has a population of 23
Mustang lies 55 miles south of Dallas, Texas off Interstate 45
Water bills and other town expenses were largely paid with money collected from the lease of two buildings on the property.
As more towns allowed liquor sales, Mustang fell into disrepair.
Turner says it really just needed the right buyer with a vision to create the community's revival - and Cuban may now be that person.
'The whole site could be re-purposed.' Turner says 'It could be a truck stop, a mobile home park, almost anything.'
Mustang volunteer firefighter Catherine Vaughn points to a map in the firehouse in Mustang (file photo)
The town was last sold in 2005 for $600,000 after a court battle that started in 2004 when owner Bill McKie leased the two clubs, Wispers and the Mustang Club, to Tommy Sinclair.
There was a lien on the property because of items that were in the clubs.
In 2005, a resolution was reached where McKie agreed to sell all 76 acres including the trailer park to Sinclair for $600,000 according to the Corsicana Daily Sun.
Cuban has a net worth of nearly $6 billion. Aside from owning the Dallas Mavericks, he also runs a successful entertainment firm and a string of start-up companies that include a new drug company he hopes will lower prescription costs.
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