The property was purchased by a trust represented by
attorney Ronald Rappaport, a partner at Reynolds, Rappaport, Kaplan and
Hackney, according to records made available Wednesday. The trust is reportedly
tied to the Obamas, but Mansion Global could not confirm the connection. Mr.
Rappaport did not return requests for comment.
Gerret Conover and Thomas LeClair, partners at LandVest
Martha’s Vineyard, were the listing and selling brokers for the property. Mr.
Conover confirmed the sale via email, and that the property was previously
owned by Wyc Grousbeck, owner of the Boston Celtics.
The sale price was more than $3 million less than the
asking price for the almost 7,000-square-foot home on the Edgartown Great Pond,
according to records. It was most recently listed for $14.85 million, but has
seen several price cuts since it was first listed in February 2015 for $22.5
million.
Mr. Conover and Mr. LeClair took over from another
agency later in May 2017, relisting the property for $19.25 million, records
show. It was cut to $16.25 million in May 2018 and then again in July 2019 to
$14.85 million. Both agents declined to comment further on any other details of
the sale.
Mr. Grousbeck bought the estate in 1998 for $3.15
million, according to property records. He did not return requests for comment.
Rumors about the Obamas buying the Edgartown home have
been swirling since the summer, when the family rented the residence, The Wall
Street Journal reported at the time. Representatives for the family declined to
comment.
The Obamas have summered on the Vineyard for years, and
they aren't the only politicians who are fond of the coastal New England area.
The Clinton family has spent time there, and former Secretary of State and
Massachusetts Senator John Kerry bought a home there in 2017. Red Gate Farm,
the former estate of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, is currently on the market
there for $65 million, according to LandVest.
The home was designed by Brandenburger Taylor Lombardo
Architects from San Francisco, with multiple areas for entertaining, both
indoors and out. The living room has vaulted ceilings, exposed steel beams and
a stone fireplace, the listing said. There are two guest wings, and the master
suite boasts a fireplace, a private sun deck and water views. There’s a chef’s kitchen
with ample built-in storage and a formal circular dining room overlooks the
grounds and pond.
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Outside, there’s both an outdoor fireplace and screened
porch with a fireplace, according to the listing. There’s also a pool and a
Jacuzzi off the second-floor balcony that has expansive views of the water. The
property offers direct access to the pond, and includes a boat house and a
private beach front with deeded rights, as per the listing.
Roughly two months after it hit the market, an
unidentified buyer has paid the full $29 million asking price for the San
Francisco spread where former Secretary of State George Shultz entertained
politicians and dignitaries.
Comprising two adjacent duplex penthouses at the Summit
condominium in the Russian Hill neighborhood, the property received multiple
offers, said Karen Mendelsohn Gould of Compass, who had the listing with
colleague Max Armour. Gregg Lynn of Sotheby’s International Realty, who
represented the buyer, said a single purchaser bought both units, but declined
to identify his client.
The sale represents the highest-known price paid for a
San Francisco condo residence, Mr. Lynn said, although the two units are
separate and it is not clear if their layouts would allow them to be combined.
The previous record was a $28 million penthouse sale at the St. Regis Hotel in
2011, records show.
The Summit apartments, spanning a total of roughly
10,400 square feet, have dramatic spiral staircases and steel-framed,
floor-to-ceiling windows. The late Mr. Shultz owned them with his second wife,
the socialite Charlotte Mailliard Shultz, who was the city of San Francisco’s
longtime chief of protocol. Mrs. Shultz purchased the north penthouse for $3.3
million in 1989 with her then-husband, the late real-estate developer Melvin
Swig. After she married Mr. Shultz, the couple bought the south penthouse for
around $5 million in 1997. Both died last year; Mr. Shultz at age 100 and Mrs.
Shultz at age 88.
The Shultzes used the north penthouse as their main
residence, while the south penthouse served as guest quarters and entertaining
space. The north penthouse has roughly 5,400 square feet and three bedrooms.
The south penthouse also has three bedrooms, as well as a large wraparound
terrace with views from the Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate Bridge. While the
apartments aren’t combined, they are connected by hallways.
Over the years, the Shultzes entertained fashion
designers, politicians and dignitaries including Henry Kissinger, another
former secretary of state, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Mr. Lynn attributed the quick sale in part to the
condos’ unobstructed, 360-degree views and double-height living rooms. “This
just happens to be the No. 1 view property in San Francisco,” Mr. Lynn said.
“It’s a very special place. It hasn’t been available for 35 years.”
Mr. Shultz was a prominent player in Republican foreign
policy. He held cabinet posts in the Nixon and Reagan administrations and
served as secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan. Later, he was a
fellow at the Hoover Institution and a director of Theranos Inc., the
now-defunct Silicon Valley blood-testing firm.
Since the onset of the pandemic, San Francisco’s housing
market has had an uneven recovery. Rents have been slower to rebound than in
other major U.S. metros, and recently the sale market has slowed amid economic
uncertainty. The median San Francisco home sale price in June was $1.89
million, down from $1.95 million in June of last year, according to Compass.
Unlike New York and Los Angeles, San Francisco doesn’t
have a high volume of new luxury condos and during Covid, single-family home
sales outpaced condos. But Ms. Gould said there is still demand for luxury
homes priced at $8 million and up. “There is a line of people still for that,”
she said. “We just don’t have any inventory.”
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