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Underwater on land, and seaside – the Bain connection

A few weeks ago I pointed out a real estate auction that’s coming up for a Cape Cod estate called Idlewild, valued at over ten million dollars. I said “I’d love to know what the story is behind this property. I assume that a fantastically rich person had a phenomenal fall,” but reportedly “This is not a distressed sale.” The story is at this link.

“This is not a distressed sale,” said Mark Troen, Sheldon’s chief operating officer. “There’s no mortgage on the property. An auction is another and very good way of selling real estate when the conventional means is unsuccessful… This is a lifestyle choice at this stage in their lives,” he said. “The couple is purchasing a home in Charleston, South Carolina”… The home will be sold furnished.

So who is selling this fabulous piece of real estate? James Feldt, the former president of marketing at Toys R Us. (They had more than one President in the company?)

James Feldt purchased the land for the estate in 2004 by for $1.55 million. Feldt, the former executive vice president of marketing at Toys R Us, and his wife, Rosanne, spent $9.5 million to build the four-bedroom, seven-bath home and another $1 million on landscaping, Troen said. “This is a lifestyle choice at this stage in their lives,” he said. “The couple is purchasing a home in Charleston, South Carolina.”

The Feldts spent over $10 million on the property and yet it has no mortgage. I can’t find any information on why or when Feldt left Toys R Us, but maybe it had something to do with the takeover of the company in 2005 by Bain Capital — yes, Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital. Here’s Feldt’s resume prior to his departure from Toys R Us.

James E. Feldt
President – Merchandising and Marketing, Toys”R”Us, U.S
James E. Feldt was named Executive Vice President and President of Merchandising and Marketing for Toys”R”Us, U.S. in March 2000. He is responsible for procurement, pricing, merchandising, promoting and presentation techniques to sell product at Toys”R”Us stores across the country. Mr. Feldt serves as a member of the Executive Committee for Toys”R”Us, Inc.

Prior to this appointment, Mr. Feldt served as Executive Vice President of Merchandising since 1999.

Mr. Feldt brings more than 20 years of retail experience to his post at Toys”R”Us U.S. Prior to joining the company, he was Executive Vice President, Merchandise and Marketing at Value City Department Stores in Columbus, OH. Prior to that, Mr. Feldt was Executive Vice President, Merchandising, Marketing, Allocation and Merchandise Distribution with Hills Department Stores in Canton, MA.

He also has extensive experience in merchandising toys, electronics, candy, sporting goods, wheel goods, seasonal and other hard line areas. In addition, he has considerable experience in apparel and the off-price industry.

Mr. Feldt graduated from Northeastern University with a degree in Business Administration.

What could Feldt have done that made him so valuable to Toys R Us, especially considering that when Bain took it over they were losing the merchandising and marketing war to Wal*Mart? It must have cost the Feldts another small fortune to furnish and decorate Idlewild, and yet it’s being sold furnished, so presumably the buyer will be getting a very big freebie thrown into the deal. The Feldts are merely making a “lifestyle choice?” It seems to me that they’ve vacated the premises and my guess is they need to get their money out of the place in order to buy or build their new home.

Ziggy and Alfalfa in Paris

This is Sunday’s Ziggy from a week ago.

My father got a kick out of this, because Paris, Illinois is his hometown. Paris is a small town and he knew a kid his age named Carl Switzer, who was more commonly called Alfalfa. Carl was a real hell-raiser when he was older. My father said when they were hanging out as teenagers every other word out of Carl’s mouth was f–k, but he always had girls around him, so he was worth having as a friend. Later, my dad went in the Navy and he was sent to Japan as part of the occupation forces. Carl kept trying for parts in movies, and he had a notable bit in It’s a Wonderful Life. My dad says Carl’s death in 1959 was stupid and tragic, but not necessarily a surprise to anybody who knew him.

A President vs. an automaton

For a supposedly religious man, Mitt Romney sure does lie an awful lot. He’s taken every position on every issue there is, depending on the audience of the moment, and he denies that he’s ever changed his mind. The second half of his one term as governor here in Massachusetts, he was already off running for President, badmouthing the state in the process. And now, in all three debates, he’s been saying how wonderful we are and taking credit for it! Despite that, Mitt says he wants to abolish the Affordable Care Act, which was patterned after legislation that he signed. What’s wrong with this guy?

Watch The Choice 2012 on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

I haven’t watched Frontline’s The Choice 2012 documentary yet, but I will. The New Yorker is the only print magazine subscription we have, and its endorsement of Obama is well worth reading.

There is, come to think of it, one reason to vote for Romney. If he wins, Jon Hamm can play him in a TV movie bio-pic.

The outs of insurance

I received a statement from Blue Cross/Blue Shield, saying my wife wasn’t covered for a hospital visit she had back in June, and I would be responsible for the $2000 in charges. She did indeed have an appointment there in June, but not on that day. The form said she didn’t have insurance on the day services were provided, which of course she would have, if she had been at the hospital that particular day.

So what was the problem? The hospital had sent BC/BS a bill for charges belonging to another woman who happens to have my wife’s name. BC/BS claimed innocence, that it was the hospital’s mistake, but they also screwed up. The statement had the wrong middle initial for my name, which was what made me suspicious in the first place.

It was possible, if unlikely, that the woman with my wife’s name is married to a man with my name, but I was told by BC/BS that their computer system had replaced my middle initial with my wife’s. Having spent more than 30 years in the healthcare computing business I felt confident in saying to the representative, “unless somebody entered that by mistake manually, that’s a bug in your software, and you need to kick this upstairs.”

Speaking of healthcare, this is worth watching…

Watch Making Sen$e: Competing Claims About Healthcare Reform on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.