http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085 <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aXiil.GWSICI&refer=euro pe> &sid=aXiil.GWSICI&refer=europe# Dracula's Castle in Transylvania Now Offered by Baytree Capital
By Sharon L. Crenson June 28 (Bloomberg) -- The Romanian castle that inspired Bram Stoker's ``Dracula'' has a new sales agent: Wall Street's Baytree Capital Associates LLC. Descendents of Romanian royalty have been trying to sell the 13th century property since December, first offering it to the local municipality of Brasov, 125 miles north of Bucharest, then to foreign investors. In January, family attorney Corin Trandafir said bids topped $78 million. No sale materialized. Empty land surrounding the hilltop fortress is ripe for hotel development, though the family will insist the castle remain intact as part of any sales contract, Baytree Chairman Michael Gardner said in an interview. "The property is absolutely beautiful,'' Gardner said. "As long as the castle itself is maintained and the history is kept intact, I don't think anyone will have any problem'' with development. The castle was built in 1212 by Teutonic knights and used two centuries later by Romania's Vlad the Impaler, who inspired the Dracula legend of a blood-sucking vampire. The fortress is now a museum. The current owners are Dominic von Habsburg, an industrial designer living in New York, and his sisters Elisabeth Sandhofer and Maria-Magdalena Holzhausen, who live in Austria. The Romanian government a year ago dropped plans to build a Count Dracula theme park near Bucharest, saying the Romanian company expected to build it didn't secure the investment it promised. To contact the reporter on this story: Sharon L. Crenson in New York at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Last Updated: June 28, 2007 16:56 EDT (C) 2007 BLOOMBERG L.P. ---------------------------- Vali "Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions are the chief mark of greatness." (Carlo Goldoni) "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." (Jimi Hendrix)
