The house is large, but takes up just a fraction of the 2.5-acre estate. “The value is in the land,” a local luxury broker says.
A Medina mansion has sold for $26.75 million, the most expensive home in the history of Western Washington. And it could be a teardown.
The property at 7887 Overlake Drive West, near the southern tip of the exclusive enclave for Seattle’s elite, sold on Friday. It is the biggest transaction recorded in the history of the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, which catalogs home sales in Western Washington. It beats a $23.375 million sale in Medina last year. (It’s not known if pricier homes have sold without being tracked by the listing service )
The house sits within a mile of the primary residences of the world’s two richest people: Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.
So who bought it? They want to keep that a secret. The buyer is listed only as “Steel Gear LLC,” a new entity created to shield the buyer’s identity, and the listing agent declined to name the buyer.
The seller is listed as the Neely family and trust, and names the spouse and son of the late Michael Neely, a local investor and lawyer. The home had been with the Neely family for about 50 years.
The 2.5-acre estate is situated on Lake Washington, with 150 feet of lakefront access featuring a private, covered dock and views of Mount Rainier, according to the broker’s listing. The driveway is lined by hedges. The private garden is registered with the Smithsonian and includes a sundial. There’s also a full clay tennis court.
The house itself is a five-bedroom built in 1929. There’s also a carriage house on the property and a three-car garage.
“While this price point is extraordinary for our region, there were more than a few interested parties and all very qualified purchasers,” the listing agent, Becky Gray of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty, said in a statement. “Activity at this level is yet another sign of the times that the Seattle metro area has become a global gateway market.”
Tere Foster of Avenue Properties in Bellevue, who deals in high-end real estate — she had the listing for the $23 million record-breaking sale last year — said she expects the buyer to tear down the house and build a new, larger home at the site. The existing house is 5,330 square feet. While large, it takes up only a fraction of the 110,000-square foot lot.
The value is in the land, she said.
“It’s in a prime location,” Foster said. “It’s a rare piece. It’s not like we have 20 of them.”
Foster said she is familiar with the property and met the buyer. She described him as a local man who created at least some of his wealth through dealing in cryptocurrency.
The home was listed for sale at $28 million in September. The county assessed it at $14.2 million.
It sits about a half-mile south of Bezos’ home, which is assessed at $76 million, and is a mile south of the Gates estate, which is valued at $127 million. Both mansions are on the Medina waterfront.
Foster said the high-end luxury real estate market in the region has been growing, both with out-of-town buyers and locals.
Overall, 43 homes sold for at least $5 million in King County last year, and the number of million-dollar homes sold last year soared 71 percent over the year prior.
“Lots of young billionaires in the Seattle market are looking to acquire real estate,” she said.