Karl Rove Sets Contract to Sell Washington House
By JULIET CHUNG
Karl Rove is in contract to sell his five-bedroom Washington D.C. home, which had been listed for $1.59 million. The name of the prospective buyer couldn’t be learned; a person familiar with the deal said the agreed-to amount was close to the asking price.
Mr. Rove and his wife, Darby, bought the three-level brick home for $799,000 in 2001. The Federal-style home, in the northwest suburban neighborhood of Kent, was built in 1968 and has several fireplaces, a formal dining room, a patio and a yard.
The Republican strategist and former senior adviser to President George W. Bush recently published his memoir, “Courage and Consequence,” and contributes to Fox News and The Wall Street Journal. He splits his time between Washington and Austin, Texas, these days, according to a spokeswoman, who declined to comment further. Nancy Taylor Bubes of Washington Fine Properties was on both sides of the deal and could not be reached for comment.
Company Tied to Billionaire Buys Beverly Hills House
A limited-liability company linked to James Jannard, founder of sunglasses and apparel maker Oakley, has bought property in Beverly Hills for $19.9 million.
The home is a roughly 7,500-square-foot home on two acres that was worked on in the 1980s by the late architect Harold Levitt. A spokesperson for Mr. Jannard said the home is for guests of Mr. Jannard’s Red Digital Cinema, a Lake Forest, Calif., maker of digital movie cameras, and not for Mr. Jannard’s personal use.
Mr. Jannard makes a cameo in Andre Agassi’s autobiography, “Open,” for sending the tennis star a red Dodge Viper in 1992 after he appeared on the cover of a magazine sporting a pair of Oakleys. Ben Bacal of Keller Williams Realty was on both sides of the deal; the home was never on the market. The seller was business entrepreneur William Hubner, who couldn’t be reached for comment.
Star Investor Laporte Buys Idaho Home for $5.5 Million
Well-known fund manager John Laporte and his wife, Andrea, have bought a home in Ketchum, Idaho, for $5.5 million, more than 20% lower than its original $6.95 million listing in the summer.
The 64-year-old Mr. Laporte, who recently stepped down from T. Rowe Price’s New Horizons Fund after 22 years at the helm, made his name regularly beating the fund’s benchmarks and holding on to shares for long periods of time. His new Ketchum home, a seven-bedroom wood, glass and stone house built in 2006, overlooks the Big Wood River and measures about 7,700 square feet. It’s the Laportes’ second home in the area; they bought a condo in Ketchum in 2001.
Tom Heinrich of Sotheby’s International Realty represented the Laportes, and Jeff Pfaeffle of Ketchum Realty represented the seller, developer Robert Brennan.
