TUPELO - Businessman V.M. Cleveland hopes to find lessors for the former Stanford office building he bought Thursday.

Cleveland was the only bidder at the auction for the Stanford property, which was taken over by a federal court after the Stanford Financial Group empire collapsed in early 2009.

Cleveland, who also owns the Tupelo Furniture Market and other properties, won the public auction with a $750,000 bid.

"I'm happy with the deal," he said in the upstairs conference room of the Coldwell Banker office, the site of the auction and just one block east of the Main Street property he bought.

The downtown Tupelo property and scores of others were taken over by a court-appointed receiver a few months before the company's top executives were indicted on 21 federal counts that they masterminded a $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme on investors.

Tupelo real estate agent Tommy Morgan helped secure Cleveland as the local property "stalking horse," which means other bidders had to beat Cleveland's offer.

Although the public notice said the basement bid was $837,000, auction officials said that price included fees and costs associated with the property's sale.

"Typically, we have other bidders," said Tony Davis with the Houston, Texas, legal firm of Baker Botts, which works for the court-appointed receiver liquidating fallen financier R. Allen Stanford's personal and corporate properties.

Right after the auction, Cleveland said he wants to finish out the property's upstairs in hopes of leasing it as office space.

The downstairs, which may have an occupant soon, is dressed out in classic Stanford dark green and brass as a professional office with reception area, roomy executive space and a kitchen.

Stanford's employees also occupied a similarly appointed upstairs at 110 E. Main St.

Criminal trials for Stanford and the others are pending his psychiatric treatment in a federal facility. The court deemed him unable to assist his attorneys in preparing for trial because of a dependence on anti-anxiety medications prescribed while he was in jail.

The company collapsed under the weight of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, which resulted in a federal judge's putting a receiver over its assets.

The Tupelo sale proceeds will go toward a pool of money to help compensate investor losses.

Other Stanford-related properties in Baldwyn - a golf-bag distribution center and downtown retail businesses and offices - are expected to up for sale soon, Davis said.

Keith Henley, who works with Morgan, said earlier this week that the local property transactions were delayed to secure clear titles for buyers.

Next door, the Fairpark Salon space is owned separately and was not part of the deal.

Contact Patsy R. Brumfield at (662) 678-1596 or patsy.brumfield@djournal.com.