Tuesday May 23 03:47 PM EDT Backstreet Boy Nick Carter Auctions Couch (5/23/00, 3 p.m. ET) - Backstreet Boy and current Tampa resident Nick Carter is auctioning off his autographed sectional couch to benefit the Tampa Children's Hospital. The couch is split into three sections, and each individual autographed piece is up for bid. The auction is taking place in conjunction with the Brandon Ford dealership (brandonford.com) and Tampa television station WFTS ABC 28 (wfts.com).
Paul Levine, the owner and president of Brandon Ford, explained to LAUNCH how Carter's couch ended up behind red velvet ropes in the middle of his automobile showroom. "Well, I happen to be friends with Nick, and Nick told me that he was thinking about getting some new furniture and he was gonna get rid of the old, and we decided to take the couch right out of his house," he explained. "We brought it down to the dealership here -- Brandon Ford -- and we brought him down here and we had him autograph all three pieces of the couch. Were auctioning off all three pieces separately, or somebody can actually buy all three pieces and have the whole couch."
Levine added that the auction is for a good cause. "Yeah, it's going to Tampa Children's Hospital at St. Joseph's Hospital. We've done some other things with Tampa Children's Hospital before. We've auctioned off some backstage passes that brought a lot of money for them," he said. "We also had a charity basketball game for them in March and raised another $80,000 for the charity in March."
The couch can be viewed in person at Brandon Ford, located at 9090 Adamo Drive in Tampa, and all sections are being sold as is. The winning bidder must take delivery at Brandon Ford within 72 hours of the auction close on Sunday (May 28).
LAUNCH asked Levine if he plans to auction off any more of the Backstreet Boys's personal items for charity in the future. "We haven't talked about it, but there's always that possibility; you never know. We'll have to see. We've taken his couch. I don't know what's next, but I'm not sure I want to go there," he quipped.
-- Jason Gelman, New York
