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McLean Deluxe
Luxury homes starting
at $15 million
by
Karl Rhodes
For Virginia Business
December 2003
Realtors
in McLean were buzzing in October after Ethel Kennedy
put her Hickory Hill estate on the market for $25 million.
Some
said no one would pay that much for a historic home
in McLean, while others argued that plenty of people
would pay that much — or more — to own five
acres of Camelot. After all, this was the home of newlyweds
John and Jacqueline Kennedy. This was the home where
Robert and Ethel Kennedy raised their children.
There’s
plenty of precedent for historic estates fetching big
prices in Northern Virginia, but now there’s a
modern home testing the upper limits of McLean’s
McMansion market. Crestview Villa on the Potomac, a
15,000-square-foot home on a 2.4-acre lot, is priced
at $15 million. John Kennedy never slept there, and
neither did George Washington. In fact, no one has ever
slept there because the home is brand new.
Two acres may sound like a small site for such a big
mansion, but consider the location. It is nearly impossible
to find even one acre of waterfront property on the
Potomac River near Washington, D.C., says Diane Bellaschi,
the agent charged with selling the home. Bellaschi
refuses to name the family who built the villa, but
she says they tore down a house on the property after
purchasing it for nearly $3 million. The previous home
was in good condition, but it did not take full advantage
of the site’s spectacular views of the Potomac
River, Bellaschi says.
The
family had planned to make Crestview Villa their primary
residence, but their plans changed while the house was
under construction, Bellaschi says. It took two years
to build the mansion, which features 6,000 square feet
of terraces, seven fireplaces, six bedrooms and nine
bathrooms. Other amenities include an elevator, media
room, billiards room, catering kitchen, home office,
library, sauna, pool and exercise room.
“It
has $1 million just in the foundation,” notes Bellaschi,
who works in the Extraordinary Properties Division of
Fairfax-based Long & Foster Cos.
Bellaschi
has been marketing the home nationally and internationally,
and she has found “some qualified buyers who are
interested.” The publicity surrounding Ethel Kennedy’s
Hickory Hill listing will make it easier to sell Crestview
Villa, Bellaschi predicts, because it will focus potential
buyers on the highest end of the McLean market. And
besides, Hickory Hill costs $10 million more, and it
isn’t even on the waterfront.
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