Lately, the high-end residences of the late horticulturalist, art collector, philanthropist, and Listerine heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon have been trickling onto the market for some rather epic sums (hello, $70 million in Virginia and $46 million in NYC!). On Cape Cod, billionaire Bill Koch picked up her Osterville compound back in 2013 for a whopping $19.5 million. Alas, not all of the pricey pads have bothered with the open market. Case in point, the sale late last week of Mellon's 100-acre Nantucket estate.
Here's how Great Point Properties' Sam Parsons summed up the south shore spread to the Inquirer and Mirror, "The property has significant conservation restrictions ensuring the preservation of the landscape and limits the property to no more than one oceanfront property, where the dwellings are currently located, and a non-waterfront property." In other words, there won't be a sub-division going in at 14 New South Road. According to Parsons, "The buyer, whose name was not disclosed, intends to use and enjoy the property the way it is without making significant alterations. We reached out to Parsons for further comment and got basically more of the same, although she did refer to "the buyers," so at least we know there won't be a lone soul rambling around all that acreage. Regardless, Bunny Mellon's Madequecham property sold for $21,500,000, making this the second most expensive property to sell on Nantucket in 2014, just behind the record-setting $27,160,000 sale of the late Richard Mellon Scaife's north shore estate.
Meanwhile, according to Forbes, the Mellon family has never been richer and their great Nantucket real estate sell-off is not only helping them stay that way, it's also making 2014 a banner year for the island's housing market. As Windwalker Real Estate's Jennifer Shalley wrote on Friday, "With eight business days remaining and a current sales pipeline of $133 million (based on last list price), the 2014 Nantucket real estate market is now well-poised to surpass $1 billion. This would place the 2014 market third in line for the top dollar volume title — 2004 saw $1.064 billion and 2005 saw $1.189 billion."
· Photo by Nathan Palmer; Great Point Properties [Inquirer and Mirror]
· 14 New South Road, Nantucket/Nantucket Property Transfers [Great Point Properties]
· Bunny Mellon archive [Curbed National]
Mellon's 100-acre Nantucket property sells for $21.5 million [Inquirer and Mirror]
· $27M Sale is the Second Most Expensive on Nantucket Ever [Curbed Cape Cod]
· 175 Years Later, The Mellons Have Never Been Richer. How'd They Do It? [Forbes]
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