SHARON Winner sells properties as he narrows focus

The restored Buhl Mansion is for sale for $7 million.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- James E. Winner Jr. said it's time to start cutting back on the scale of his personal business operations.
"I'm going to start liquidating some assets," said the 74-year-old founder of Winner International, the maker and marketer of The Club vehicle anti-theft device and other security items.
That's why he's put the Buhl Mansion on the sale block, he said.
The 107-year-old stone mansion, once the home of the late industrialist and philanthropist Frank Buhl and his wife, Julia Forker Buhl, had fallen into a state of disrepair when Winner and his wife, Donna, bought it in 1996 for $175,000.
They restored it, re-creating the first floor as it was when the Buhls lived there at the turn of the century and opening the upper two floors as a 10-room bed and breakfast operation in March 1998. They later added a basement spa and other amenities at the 422 E. State St. location.
Winner said he's not sure how much the restoration and development cost (some estimates are more than $2 million), but the mansion now has a price tag of $7 million.
Howard Hanna Real Estate is the local agent for the property, but it has been advertised in Forbes magazine and the New York Times, Winner said.
The Mansion isn't the only Winner property on the market.
Winner said he's already sold six of the nine hotels he owned. He still owns the Radisson at Interstate 80 and Pa. Route 60 in Shenango Township.
Donna's Diner at 10 W. State St., a 1950s style diner opened by the Winners in late 1999, has been closed since January and has been for sale since April.
Winner actually began putting some of his properties up for sale in early 2002, listing nine of them on the market. Two, the Winner Family Restaurant in Masury and the Sharon Post Office building on Shenango Avenue, have sold.
He had purchased most of the properties intending to use them to help revitalize the downtown business district, but only two of them were occupied when he put them up for sale.
Younger developers
He said then that it was time to start getting the properties into the hands of some younger people who can follow through with some development.
Winner said this week that he wants to get down to operating just a couple of businesses.
The Winners will keep Tara, a Country Inn, in Clark because it's their home, he said.
Other than that, he wants to eventually reduce his personal involvement to just Winner International and the Winner Steel Service Center on Sharpsville Avenue.