Before he went to prison for dogfighting, Michael Vick trained his pit bulls at a 4,600-sq-ft house on 15 acres in Surry, Virginia. Earlier this year, local tax rolls valued the property at $747,000, but Vick hurriedly
sold the house to real estate developer Ray Todd on the cheap, to aid his mounting financial troubles. Todd had hoped to resell the house for $1M at a December auction, and dozens of rubberneckers toured the property -- to gawk at the syringes left on the ground, the twenty kennels
"like prison cells", and the outbuildings where the dogs were fought. Naturally,
no one was buying. Still, Todd wants to recoup his investment, so he’s turning to a conventional sale this month… and failing
that, is considering building (unbelievably)
a bed-and-breakfast where pets are welcome.
Enter
The Vick House project: a Dallas charity called Jalie’s Butterflies is hoping to raise enough money online to buy the house and convert it to a non-profit animal shelter, under guidance of the SPCA.
[more inside]
posted by pineapple
on Jan 20, 2008 -
27 comments
