PANAMA CITY BEACH — The lavish, multimillion-dollar home at the center of a state-versus-church controversy involving a former Panama City Beach pastor has failed to find a new owner during auction.
But a buyer of Faith Christian Family Church’s home of former pastor, Markus Quin Bishop, could reach a deal in the coming days, auctioneers said.
The mahogany doors of the 12,200-square-foot, six-bedroom, 10-bathroom home — complete with a tennis court, swimming pool, wet bar, built-in saltwater aquarium and billiards room adorned with ornate columns — opened Thursday in an absolute auction. Some estimates valued the gated mansion at 1307 Preserve Bay Blvd. at about $4.2 million. And negotiations were at a deadlock Friday night.
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“It’s a beautiful home with marble floors throughout,” said Johnathan White, publicist of the National Auction Group. “It’s a battle right now.”
Though the auction was billed as an absolute auction, National Auction Group decided to change its criteria and add a reserve right before the auction commenced. Some bidders were upset by the decision, continuing the controversial legacy of the home and its resident pastor that began back in 2006.
Bishop, the former pastor of Faith Christian Family Church, currently faces charges claiming he provided a minor with marijuana before making sexual advances toward her at his Fox Run Boulevard home. He was arrested in September and charged with delivering a controlled substance to a minor, felony battery and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Bishop lived in the Preserve Bay Boulevard home for years without ever paying taxes on the property. The multi-million dollar home was dubbed a parsonage by Bay County Judge Hentz McClellan after the Bay County Tax Collector’s Office took Bishop to court in 2006 and lost.
The property appraiser appealed the order, arguing that the ruling flew in the face of legislative intent and nullified language in Florida law that seemed to give a property appraiser discretion to deny parsonage exemptions if he or she feels it is not being used for religious or educational purposes.
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McClellan again held the view that a home owned by a church in Bay County is tax exempt following the appeal.
However, after marketing the sale of the home as an absolute auction Thursday, representatives of National Auction Group expect the home to sell within the next few days in closed-door negotiations for about $3 million. The proceeds will go to the property owner Faith Christian Family Church, which filed bankruptcy in 2011.
Bishop could not be reached for comment Friday.