Community Corner

Would You Pay $120 Million For This Home?

The sale of the Copper Beech Farm Estate in Connecticut is one of the most expensive single family home sales ever.

By Barbara Heins

Greenwich, Conn. – In what is believed to be one of the most expensive single family home sale prices in the entire country the 50-acre waterfront Copper Beech Farm estate sold Friday for $120 million.

According to Curbed.com, the sale of the home at 499 Indian Field Rd. in the private Mead Point enclave, is the second-largest recorded in U.S. history — the most expensive being Montana's Broken O Ranch, which sold in 2012 for $132.5 million.

The Copper Beech Estate, which had been owned by John Rudey, a timber magnate with holdings in Washington state, was built in 1898 by the Lauder Greenway family, who were founders with Andrew Carnegie of U.S. Steel. It boasts 4,000 feet of private beach on Long Island Sound as well as two islands.

Assistant Greenwich Town Clerk Kimberley Jordan said she believes the sale is the largest in town history. "It's certainly the largest I've seen and I've been here 19 years," Jordan said.

In addition to the $120 million price tag, the buyers, Conservation Institute LLC, had to pay a total of $1,796,000 in conveyance taxes to the state of Connecticut and to the Town of Greenwich, according to Jordan. The state received $1,496,000 of the tax and the town's coffers were enriched by $300,000 in conveyance taxes, according to Jordan.

The sale was handled by David Ogilvy & Associates, the Greenwich real estate firm affiliated with Christie's International Real Estate. Ogilvy listed the property, comprised of a 30.6 acre parcel and a 20-acre parcel — in May 2013 with a pricetag of $190 million. There were price reductions and then an offered option of purchasing 30.6 acres of the estate — including the 12-bedroom mainhouse — for $76.9 million.

According to The New York Times, Rudey and his wife Laurie purchased the property for $7.55 million in 1981. According to The Wall Street Journal, Rudey decided to sell because his family was grown. 

However, according to The Times, the Rudeys had taken several mortgages against the estate because of the foundering timber industry.

Whoever moves into the home will have grand views of Long Island Sound ... after driving down an 1,800-foot long tree-lined driveway. The wood-paneled library is housed in one of two stone turrets that front the home boasts curved glass windows. There is a 75-foot swimming pool and a hot tub, which in the You Tube video, Ogilvy said, could accommodate 30 people.

The grounds had been cared for by a professional gardener Rudey hired away from the Botanical Gardens in New York, according to Ogilvy and a greenhouse where he grows the annuals and perennials that decorate the property. A professional groundskeeper from an unidentified golf course maintains the manicured grass tennis court.

The farm is named for the copper beech tree that dominates the estate, which Ogilvy said he believes is one of the largest in Greenwich.

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