The bidding window for Pope Leo XIV’s childhood home in Dolton, Illinois, has been extended through July, according to the auction company, Paramount Realty USA.
Bidding for the quaint home was initially set to end at 4 p.m. Wednesday, but it will now run through July 17. The starting price remains at $250,000, the company said Tuesday.
The move comes as Dolton officials have expressed an interest in acquiring the 1,050-square-foot home that Pope Leo, formerly known as Robert Prevost, grew up in, clouding the picture of who will ultimately own it.
The town of Dolton, located 22 miles south of downtown Chicago, announced in May it would begin the process of seizing the home through eminent domain. Eminent domain is a process by which a public entity takes ownership of private property if it used for public purposes. The public entity must still pay fair compensation to the property owner.
Paramount founder and CEO Misha Haghani said in an interview Tuesday that the extension allows more people to bid on the home and is not influenced by any legal proceedings.
He asserted that the house is the most popular residence in the country aside from the White House, and its attention rivals what Haghani saw when auctioning President Donald Trump's childhood home. Haghani has also yet to see any eminent domain proceeding movement from Dolton.
"There's going to be different opinions on whether or not a municipality or a government agency should be buying this property, and that makes sense," Haghani said. "You can't expect everyone to agree, so I am not terribly surprised to see that."
New court complaint filed
Complicating the matter, on Sunday, a third party filed a complaint against Dolton with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
A former Dolton employee, Lavell Redmond, who is litigating a wrongful termination case against the town, according to the complaint, is seeking a temporary restraining order to keep Dolton from purchasing the home, citing "numerous" lawsuits for actions under the community's previous mayor, Tiffany Henyard. The deal would be “financially irresponsible” as Dolton is in “severe financial distress,” the complaint said, citing a public financial report.
The complaint doesn't affect auction bidding or the sale of the home to the public, according to the court filing.
Dolton's spokesperson, Nakita Cloud, told Homes.com she could not comment on pending litigation but confirmed that no agreement between Dolton and Redmond had been reached, despite the complaint noting the village does not have the funds to pay his settlement.
On Wednesday, a judge blocked the temporary restraining order against Dolton, according to media reports.
Homes.com reached out to Henyard for comment but didn't immediately hear back.
In a letter to Paramount from Dolton’s lawyer on May 20, attorney Burton S. Odelson of the law firm Odelson, Murphey, Frazier, & McGrath explained that the town and the Chicago Archdiocese plan to turn the home into a historic site open to the public.
“People inform any prospective buyers that their ‘purchase’ may only be temporary since the village intends to begin the eminent domain process very shortly,” Odelson wrote in the letter.
Public records show the pope’s parents owned the three-bedroom, three-bathroom brick home from 1949 through 1996. When Prevost was named pope on May 8, the home had been on the market since January, originally priced at $219,000 and then reduced to $199,900 in February.
It’s owned by a real estate investor, DPR Homes owner Pawel Radzik, who purchased the home to flip. Listing agent Steve Budzik of iCandy Realty and the owner were unaware of the home’s previous owners until shortly after Prevost became pope. By the evening of May 8, the listing had been taken down after about seven offers, Budzik previously told Homes.com.
The home remained off the market until a week later, when bidding kicked off.
This story was updated June 18 with reports of a judge’s decision to block a temporary restraining order against Dolton, Illinois.