Former President Obama and his family are now homeowners on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. They just bought a home situated on nearly 30 acres in Edgartown.
The seller is Wycliffe Grousbeck, a private equity investor and owner of the Boston Celticsbasketball team.
The 6,892-square-foot house sits on 29.3 secluded acres fronting the Edgartown Great Pondwith views of a barrier beach and the ocean beyond. It was designed by Bradenburger Taylor Lombardo Architects in San Francisco, and built in 2001.
The home features seven bedrooms, eight and a half baths and several stone fireplaces. There is a two-car garage, a detached barn and a pool.
Rumors of the impending sale have been circulating since late this summer, when the Obamas rented the property for several weeks, who are by now familiar summer visitors on the Vineyard.
The Obamas have spent part of every August on the Island for seven out of the eight years he was in office and they also visited the Island before, including when he was a senator from Illinois.
Although the Vineyard has long been a vacation spot for visiting presidents, including former President Clinton and his family, this marks the first time that a former president has purchased property on the Island.
The Grousbecks bought the land in 1998 for $3.1 million. It has been on the market since 2015, when it was listed for $22.5 million. The price was dropped twice this summer, first to $16.25 million in June, then to $14.85 million in July.
The purchase price was $11.75 million. Half price deal!
I’ve only been to the Vineyard once in my life, when I spent a week there. It IS hard to get to (not if you have a helicopter) but it’s one of my favorite places in the world. It combines the wild natural beauty of upstate New York (where I now live) and the pristine East Coast beaches of the way too overcrowded and schmancy Hampton’s. It is summer perfection.
(Photos, Sotheby’s, Landvest; via Vineyard Gazette)
