Moonlite Bunny Ranch owner Dennis Hof said Monday he was the high bidder for the buildings and fixtures that make up Mustang Ranch II and plans to move them to be part of a museum next to his Mound House brothel.

�It was the first legal brothel in America,� Hof said Monday in an interview. �It�s a historical landmark in my mind.�

Among 33 bids for the eBay auction that ended Sunday, Hof had the high bid of $8,101.

Hof said he wants the museum to attract more attention to his Lyon County brothel along U.S. Highway 50.

�The way I look at this is, criminals keep a low profile. They�ve got something to hide. I�ve got nothing to hide. I�m a businessman,� Hof said. �I�ve single-handedly changed the image of sex for sale in America.�

Moving the buildings could cost $50,000 to $75,000, he said. The Mustang Ranch II is a complex of modular buildings and it wasn�t immediately clear how many buildings were involved in the bid.

The Bureau of Land Management, which is selling the buildings, was closed Monday because of the federal holiday.

Hof didn�t get the land with the buildings � also called the Mustang Ranch Annex. And eBay bidding on the main Mustang Ranch building and the right to the Mustang Ranch logo doesn�t end until Thursday.

The federal government tried selling the properties earlier this year on eBay. But the $15,000 bid in June for the main Mustang Ranch building did not meet the minimum bid set by the government.

Hof said there�s a good chance he�ll also bid on the main Mustang Ranch building to be part of his museum.

The federal government seized the buildings in 1999 after a U.S. District Court jury found the corporation that owned the Mustang Ranch guilty of racketeering and bankruptcy fraud by concealing that Joe Conforte was the true owner. The government failed in the 1990s to extradite Conforte from Brazil.

The winning bidder has 90 days to move the buildings. The Bureau of Land Management wants to use Mustang Ranch land for public access to the Truckee River.

Hof said his brothel museum will be on 50 acres next to the Bunny Ranch and will include a restaurant and a boutique with stickers, posters, T-shirts and other items.

�It�s just perfect timing for all of this to fall into place,� the brothel owner said. �Rather than reconstruct something, we�ve already got it. We just buy the buildings.�

Will his brothel museum be open to children?

�That is an interesting question that we need to think through,� Hof replied. �One side says yes because it�s part of American history. The other part says no because it�s part of adult American history.�

Joe Richards, owner of three Southern Nevada brothels, opened his Brothel Art Museum outside Pahrump about 10 years ago and called Hof�s purchase �a real good move.�

�If that building was down here, closer, I would have purchased it myself,� Richards said. �It would have attracted a lot of attention.�

Many people who wouldn�t set foot in a brothel will visit a brothel museum, Richards said, so it�s a chance to sell memorabilia.

�I have people that come into my place that are couples, married people, single people, all ages,� Richards said.

Even Nevada Brothel Association lobbyist George Flint � who in the past has criticized Hof for having a high profile in an industry Flint feels might be better off staying under the radar � liked the idea of Hof purchasing the Mustang Ranch II.

�Dennis is a big fan of the Mustang,� Flint said. Hof spent more than $20,000 on Mustang memorabilia at a federal auction last December.

�I�d hate to see it go into Lyon County,� Flint said. �I wish it would stay in Storey County.�