Florida couple makes offer on Rockcliffe

A new bid of $710,000 is the highest yet for Hannibal’s Rockcliffe Mansion.
The potential buyers are James and Robin Gillette of Fountain, Fla.
They’ve made a $35,000 down payment and have 30 days to inspect the tourist attraction at 1000 Bird.
The trustee appointed to oversee the estate after owner Rick Rose filed for bankruptcy says he’ll ask a judge to approve the bid at a Nov. 2 hearing. The proposed closing date is Jan. 15.
“This (offer) has the most significant deposit,” said the trustee, John S. Hodge, a lawyer in Shreveport, La., where the bankruptcy was filed. “That gives me reason to believe this offer will be successful.”
Reached by telephone Tuesday, James Gillette declined to discuss the offer or the couple’s intentions for the historic house and its antique contents.
“I’m a very private person,” Gillette said, adding he would make public statements upon coming to Hannibal if the deal goes through.
Kristy Trevathan, a Realtor with Prestige Realty of Hannibal, is the couple’s buying agent. Trevathan described Gillette as a retired businessman.
She said the Gillettes toured Rockcliffe in early September and that the offer was “something that’s been in the works for a while.”
Trevathan said the Gillettes have told her they’d like to restore the interior and exterior, but haven’t indicated whether they’d keep it open for tourists.
“He really hasn’t told me everything,” Trevathan said. “How they proceed with how they use it will be up to them to decide.”
Trevathan said the Gillettes “like Hannibal” and though they make their home in Florida, “they’ve lived in the Midwest.”
The development comes as a Maplewood couple that’s leased the 13,500-square-foot mansion since September tries to put together a second bid.
Ken and Lisa Marks offered $700,000, but missed the original Sept. 30 deadline to arrange financing.
Ken Marks said Tuesday that he and his wife have private investors who are interested in a bid, but that an offer hasn’t been put together. The new deadline is Oct. 28.
“We’re still working on it,” Marks said. “There is still some hope. It’s not over yet. It’s just a harder road.”
Real estate expert Ted Wight of St. Louis is the listing agent for Rockcliffe and said he had spoken to Gillette a few months ago when the Florida man first showed interest.
Wight called Rockcliffe “a special property” that will take “somebody who can not only buy it, but fix it up and maintain” it.
“You’re biting off more than the purchase price,” Wight said. “There’s a lot of money that needs to be put into Rockcliffe.”
The Markses plan extensive renovations of their own and hope to keep the house open as a tourist attraction while living there.
The couple fears a new owner would make the mansion a private residence.
The Markses had made a $10,000 deposit on the mansion, half of which they won’t get back.
Their lease runs through Oct. 31, and the couple continues to offer tours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.