The Bad Past of Mark Cuban’s New Ghost Town in Mustang, Texas

Mark Cuban hit the headlines this week for buying a lot”the whole town“An hour southeast of Dallas. But it turns out that Mustang, Texas is more than a piece of land, famous for its abandoned strip club where a man was killed in 2008. According to locals, there aren’t any residents or businesses. work.

“I have been a resident all my life [of the area] and have seen a lot of people come and go there, but it’s always been less than desirable,” said Jerry Newsom, who recently owned a graphics business. “They have strip clubs and adult video stores and all kinds of stuff there. So whatever Mark Cuban is going to bring… will be better than what is already there. ”

In an email to The Daily Beast, Cuba confirmed that he had purchased the property but did not provide financial details. The town has been on the market since 2017, with an initial asking price of $4 million, which has since been cut in half.

Mike Turner, the agent in the transaction, said Cuban bought town from an ownership organization whose general partner was Marty Price, a sole-practicing attorney who passed away this summer.

Price had season tickets to the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, which the Cuban owns, and struck up a friendship with the billionaire. “His ticket was placed behind the guest bench so he could shoot appropriately,” says Turner.

Turner added that Price “didn’t really spend any time” in Mustang, but “he’s actively involved in the management of the town’s businesses, which is somewhat limited, because there’s really no a lot of things happen.”

Founded in 1973, Mustang’s original purpose was to provide legal alcohol sales to the surrounding dry towns. Other vices – strip clubs and adult shops – followed.

“That’s where all the bad things used to be,” said an employee working in the area.

In contrast, the neighboring city of Corsicana is “one of the oldest oil towns in Texas.” “It was old money. It’s a gun. It’s oil. It’s a kind of cowboy mentality. “

By the late 2000s, when the population of the Mustang was just under two dozen, it remained a magnet for lewd locals who weren’t interested in digging a lot of nuts.

The Wispers Cabaret, the town’s strip club, made headlines in 2008, after an oilfield welder named Fernando Ramirez came over for a night out, then became rowdy when he came to believe it he was flawed in his dances.

Ramirez is said to have been dragged out of the club. He hit him in the head during the riot and died of his wounds.

Residents said the club closed some time later. In the end, even the dilapidated trailer houses were demolished.

Today, “it’s just a ghost town,” said one local.

However, Wispers is still listed on Google search results, but with a new moniker: “Mark Cubaret.”

At this point, Mustang is likely still a ghost town, although it still has its own wastewater treatment plant and volunteer fire department. Cuban said he still has no plans for the property.

Turner said the billionaire has a multitude of options, whether he should choose to invest or not. “Someone can use their imagination and do some things,” he said. “One just has to obey the laws of the State of Texas, because there are no laws in Mustang.”

The rumors spread to neighboring towns. “I would love to see the Dallas Mavericks world headquarters there, it will do really big things for this community,” said one resident nearby.

It could be wishful thinking. At just 0.1 square miles, the Mustang will probably need to settle for smaller aspirations.