$4.75M Meridian Hills mansion for sale: It was home to Olympic gold medalist then Lilly CEO

INDIANAPOLIS – If the walls inside this $4.75 million Meridian Hills mansion could talk, there would surely be remarkable stories to tell. Tales of politicians, high-profile business leaders, a revitalization of a city and the secrets of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company.

This 21,000-square-foot estate at Five East 71st Street was once owned by Olympic gold medalist and prominent Indianapolis banking executive Frank McKinney, Jr. Later, Randall Tobias, Eli Lilly chairman and CEO, called Five East home.

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Now the mansion is up for sale, listed Monday by Bif Ward Real Estate Group. The estate features 40 rooms, including eight bedrooms, 16 baths, two kitchens, a wine tasting gallery, an elevator and a built-in aquarium.

The home was built in 1937 by Edna and Julius Erbich, nestled on nearly three acres. When McKinney moved in, he installed an Olympic-size swimming pool. McKinney had won a gold medal in the 400-meter medley relay and a silver medal in the 100-meter backstroke in 1960 in Rome.

When Tobias moved in, the main house was expanded, a tennis court added, as well as sculpture gardens and a nine-car garage. The mansion today boasts a guest apartment with a private entrance, spa and cabana.

The property has never been listed for sale in the public domain, only trading hands through private sale or transfer of ownership. But Monday, for the first time in more than 85 years, Five East went on the market.

McKinney's time at Five East: He was Indy's biggest advocate

McKinney called Five East home as he made his mark on the city he loved from the 1970s through the early 1990s. He died at 53 in a private plane crash that killed three other city leaders in 1992.

When he died, McKinney was chairman of Bank One Indiana, Corp., and a fierce advocate for Indianapolis, pushing leaders to bring life to a city once known as Naptown.

"He led the way in the revitalization of the city's downtown," William K. McGowan, Jr., president of the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association, said in 1992 after McKinney's death.

But before McKinney was a banking executive, he was an elite athlete. At Indiana University, he swam for legendary coach James "Doc" Counsilman, who led the school to 23 Big Ten titles. Then McKinney became a gold medalist. After his swimming career was over, he returned to Indianapolis.

"Frank knew very clearly that he wanted to be a world-class swimmer," Rev. Joseph Wade, pastor of St. Matthew Catholic Church, said as he eulogized McKinney in 1992. "He (also) wanted to be a giant in the business world."

McKinney climbed the ranks of the banking industry and, in 1987, was chairman and CEO of Fidelity Bank & Trust Co., which had merged with American Fletcher National and was one of the state's largest banks. McKinney made a bold move in Indiana banking circles, selling his bank to an out-of-state corporation, Bank One.

He also made a bold move as he advocated for the construction of the tallest building in the state, the Bank One Tower in downtown Indianapolis, now the Salesforce Tower.

McKinney was Gov. Evan Bayh's senior advisor on international trade. He was behind many downtown renewal projects, including the restoration of bricks in and around Monument Circle. He was on the board of OneAmerica and chairman of the effort to build a tennis stadium downtown.

At his funeral, his son Frank E. McKinney, III, remembered his father's drive and what he told him time and time again: "You can do anything you put your mind to."

Tobias' years at Five East: He was Eli Lilly's savior

Lilly needed a new CEO in 1993 when the steady and robust pharmaceutical company reported its first quarterly loss with CEO Vaughn Bryson at its helm. Lilly named Tobias, then-vice-chairman of AT&T, as Bryson's replacement.

As Tobias lived at Five East, he plotted a plan for Lilly that brought a sharp rebound in profits and stock prices. When he took over in 1993, Lilly's market value was $14 billion and Wall Street was calling it a "sleepy" company.

Six years later, Lilly's market value was more than $70 billion, its stock price had increased more than 400% and Tobias had taken the company back to what it had always been best at, developing new drugs.

During Tobias' time as CEO, Lilly introduced dozens of new products, including Zyprexa, a drug that treats mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and Evista, a drug to treat osteoporosis that was also believed to prevent breast cancer.

Tobias was lauded in business magazines and at pharmaceutical industry gatherings all over the world.

But in 1998, "Tobias stunned the pharmaceutical industry and Wall Street by announcing he would retire from Lilly at the end of the year," the Chicago Tribune reported.

After retiring from Lilly, Tobias held on to Five East another 18 years until he parted ways with the property, giving it to the Indiana University Foundation in 2012.

Now, Five East is looking for a new owner with more stories to tell.

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Reach her via email: dbenbow@indystar.com.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: $4.75 million Indianapolis mansion in Meridian Hills is up for sale