Barack and Michelle Obama may be a step closer to being Vineyard residents.
The 29-acre Edgartown property the former president and first lady were reportedly interested in buying is under a purchase and sale agreement. The $14.8 million Turkeyland Cove Road home, which is where the Obamas spent their August vacation on-Island, is being sold by Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck. The Grousbecks purchased the property in 1998 for $3.1 million, according to town and county records.
The “Edgartown hideaway” is located on Edgartown Great Pond.
Gerrett Conover, the real estate broker, confirmed the property is under agreement, but declined further comment.
Speculation about the possible purchase has been smoldering for months, and a visit by Michelle Obama to Edgartown library in mid-October poured fuel on that fire. The Obamas have been almost annual August visitors since before he was president, but there has never been a fall visit by the family.
In early September, Wyc and Corinne Grousbeck’s property was before the Edgartown planning board to have the board endorse an ANR on the property. ANR stands for “approval not required,” and outlines the division of land into lots — undoubtedly one of the details to be worked out before the property could change hands.
Late last month, Martha’s Vineyard was trending on Twitter when Michelle Obama, at an Obama Foundation Summit, made a comment about “white flight” in Chicago. “Y’all were running from us, and you’re still running,” she was quoted as saying by the Washington Post. That comment erupted on social media, with critics pointing to their pursuit of the $14.8 million property on Martha’s Vineyard.
TMZ calls Dukes County Registry of Deeds at the same time every morning looking for an update on the sale and the involvement of Obama, according to registry personnel.
The house is nearly 7,000 square feet, has 15 rooms, seven bedrooms, eight full bathrooms, and one half-bath, and was assessed at $15.2 million, according to the real estate listing.
“There are two guest wings, and an impressive master suite with fireplace, private sun deck, and spectacular water views,” the online listing states. “Your summer days can be spent poolside in a garden-like setting with the sounds of the waves lapping in the distance, or exploring the expansive Great Pond and outer barrier beach for a full day on the water.”
So much for the seas that are rising, Kerry & Obama bought Waterfront mega mansions here on the Vineyard..
Go figure! I never believed them for one second but they will be happily surrounded by a zillion of those who do. What a life this guy has had and continues to have….
Sam k — every time this comes up, someone who knows nothing about rising sea levels makes an ignorant statement about it , and the perceived hypocrisy of this purchase. Perhaps if you did a little research to look at the known or presumed “facts” concerning sea level rise you would learn that worst case scenarios predict sea level rise of about 1 foot over the next 30 years, and as high as 6 ft over the next 100 years .
https://sealevelrise.org/forecast/
This is the scientific consensus – not radical conservatives exaggerating about what the scientist say, or ignorant “alarmist” who are equally misinformed.
The property in question appears to be between 10 and 20 ft. above sea level, according to topographical maps readily available on the “internet” . It will likely be inundated by sea level rise in about 100 to 200 years , if nothing is done to slow it.
I don’t think the Obama’s have to worry all that much.
Also, it seems a common conservative talking point is to criticize working class democrats of “wealth envy”. Better be careful, , as that seems to be the first step on the road to becoming a socialist, according to the pundits.
There you go posting factual based comments. Who wants that? Kerry’s home is not even a talking point for sea level rise-unless a tidal wave is in the near-term forecast
I have used several calculators and they all indicate about 3 to 4 feet. So they have 300 years left because NOOA says one eighth of an inch per year rise.
Andrew– I could not find any reference to “NOOA” on google. I did however, find a government agency called “NOAA” that apparently studies the oceans and the atmosphere. I did find a line from them corroborating your assertion of one eighth of an inch per year rise. However, on a closer look, that is the average rise since 1993. A deeper analysys of that data reveals that 2018 “was the seventh consecutive year, and the 23nd out of the last 25 years in which global mean sea level increased relative to the previous year.” In “easy to understand speak”, that means the rate of sea level rise is accelerating, as is temperature , by the way. https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-global-sea-level
That trend is surely going to continue.
I stand by my assertion of about a “worst case scenario” of a one ft. rise in the next 30 years.
And I actually bother to post the sources of my information.
Nice profit. The Grousbecks quadrupled their money.
redsox– you know about real estate — in 1998 they probably only actually put down 10 % or so.
Perhaps 3 or 400 k. For round numbers, lets say 500 k.
So a 10 million profit , accounting for closing cost, maintenance etc, that’s a return of 20 times on investment, or 17.5 % per year, while having a pretty nice place to spend a few weeks every year.
So what do think the chances are they will pay taxes on that “unearned” income at a rate that will come anywhere near the rate you pay for your “earned” income ? And how does that compare to your savings account rates ?
But , on the plus side, the Obama’s will have to pony up pretty close to $300,000 to the land bank.
Gotta love the rich–
Now, Don, you know that you can always trust a real estate developer to be honest…no, wait. Never mind.
They can have it. The beach in front of the property is all small rocks. And that end of Great Pond is where the algae blooms form. The temperature of Edgartown Great Pond sometime boarders on 86 degrees. It aint like it used to be. Maybe their influence can get the pond back to something worthwhile because with waht’s around it and all the run off from the trophy houses into it is certainly ruining it. Sad to see a great place destroyed by selfishness.
The grapes were sour, too. I hate when that happens.
What a bunch of miserable comments. Get a grip people.
Words from your possible neighbors mouth. From obama herself and I quote
“I want to remind white folks that y’all were running from us. And you’re still running”.
Y’all is slang for- All of you
And she goes on and again I quote
“I can’t make people not afraid of black people. I don’t know what’s going on. I can’t explain what’s happening in your head”.
Good luck with your new neighb’s and even though a previous commenter said the beach was all small rocks I’d still take it because that’s a sweet *ss house!! Also I don’t think the privileged lifestyle that they’re used to will bring them down to the pond much if at all.
Perhaps you have never considered the very long list of island restaurants and gatherings they have attended while they were living under the threats that sitting Presidents do. One could hope that all family members will feel more comfortable walking the island like any other resident.
Moved– I am impressed that you actually quoted Michell Obama accurately, twice. Nice work !
Not that it has anything to do with this article, but do you think she’s wrong ?
And “y’all” is about the most common way that someone would refer to more than one person south of the Mason Dixon Line.. and often when referring to only one person. I doubt it’s “slang” there. It’s part of the local dialect.
Comments are closed.