The house at 5407 Cary Street Road was listed in June at $9.5 million. (File photos courtesy CVRMLS)
A standout mansion in Richmond’s West End has changed hands in one of the priciest residential real estate deals in the region in recent years.
The green-copper-roofed house at 5407 Cary Street Road sold this month for $9 million, setting a high bar for area home sales in 2024 and topping last year’s highest seller, the Sharp family estate, which sold for $8.75 million.
The Aug. 14 Cary Street Road sale was below the home’s June 12 list price of $9.5 million. The house went under contract two weeks later.
The 12,500-square-foot house is on a 2-acre lot.
City property records list the new owner as 5407 Cary LLC, an entity based in Roanoke. The mystery buyer was represented by John Martin with Shaheen, Ruth, Martin & Fonville Real Estate.
The buyer appears to be tied to another nearby mansion that was purchased last fall and put up for sale late last month: 5105 Stratford Crescent. A separate LLC used to buy that house shares the same registered agent as 5407 Cary: attorney Frank Flippin with law firm Gentry Locke in Roanoke.
Both LLCs are also represented by Martin, who listed the Stratford Crescent house July 31 with an asking price of $6.75 million. That property was put under contract Aug. 16 and remained pending as of Monday.
A call to Flippin seeking comment was not returned Monday afternoon. Martin declined to comment.
Susie Benson with The Steele Group | Sotheby’s International Realty handled the Cary Street Road listing for sellers Drew and Julee Spitzer, who bought the house 10 years ago for $1.6 million and added onto and renovated it in the late 2010s. Drew Spitzer is a managing director at downtown investment bank Harris Williams.
Benson said interest in the listing was “phenomenal.”
“Everyone loved it, and all the people who looked at it were prequalified, so that tells you that there is strong interest in high-end properties,” she said.
The L-shaped addition off the eastern end of the house frames a rear terrace that also was added.
Totaling 12,500 square feet on a 2-acre lot, the seven-bedroom, 8½-bathroom house was built in 1916 and designed by noted Richmond architect Duncan Lee. It was renovated and expanded in 2016, with Mark Franko Custom Building completing the addition and upgrades that were designed by architecture firm 3North.
Featuring elements from the Colonial Revival and American Arts and Crafts movements, the three-story house has a garden room with original bar and fountain, a library, six en suite bedrooms with walk-in closets and a primary en suite with sitting room and dressing room.
The lower level includes a game room, exercise room, bar and another bedroom with bathroom, and the house has a geothermal system, conditioned attic, heated bathroom floors and an elevator.
The property is assessed by the city at $3.9 million.
The $9 million sale ranks among the highest in the Richmond area in recent years. Prior to the Sharp estate sale last year, the most expensive sale in the region was Glen Roy, a 260-acre estate that sold in 2020 for $10 million.
Sold for $9M with an assessment of $3.9M. Anyone see a problem here?
Not really – assessments don’t change minute by minute – the Va code requires re-assessments every 4 years. I think there’s a lot of houses that have probably doubled or more in value in that real estate zone in the last few years.
Except that the city re-assesses every year and the code state “fait market value”. Proof the prior owners were under assessed.
The city assessors do a pretty good job jacking up assessments nearly every year. They have to show some caution on “one offs” that might skew the values upward. You can bet that the new buyer will see its tax bill nearly double. The City Council and Mayor do an excellent job in spending every dime that is raised and complaining that there is not enough in their hands for essential services. Tax relief? No chance!
I think an audit of every property sold in the last twelve months would show this is not an anomaly, and much more pronounced above an average price point.
How does a home at this price point not have a pool?
It bothers me that so many properties (homes and buildings that house businesses) are sold to nameless LLCs.
Why is that? Just curious your reason, and the current laws aligning with your stance?
It’s bc people who buy high end houses don’t want their names published in Bizsense
I am fortunate to serve as architect on many high price residences up and down the East Coast from Florida to Maine. This practice is actually quite the norm for high net worth families. There is nothing nefarious here, just purchasers who seek to remain private. Many even choose to set up family trusts so that these wonderful homes can remain with children for generations to come. Kudos to all involved in this transaction. Richmond has a wonderful stock of excellent architecture and our homes can be a great source of pride not just for the home owners, but their… Read more »