Headline Homes 2009-’10: Annual roundup
Eye-popping prices and celebrity buyers turn up in monthly chronicle of luxury home sales [From our print edition featured in Monday's City Paper]
05-24-2010 12:05 AM —
We can’t know exactly what draws people to the Headline Homes column we publish each month.
Is it about the houses themselves, with their often-vast square footage and exquisite features? Is it about the money, with a top-10 sales list each month usually made up entirely homes that fetched more than $1 million? Or is it about the people? After all, anyone who can buy one of these places is presumably A) very accomplished, B) famous, C) born into wealth, or D) some combination of the first three.
All we know for sure is that the column has been extremely popular ever since we launched it in February 2008. And that fact alone seems to justify a look back at the cream of the crop among local home sales for the past 12 months.
Largest single-family home transactions recorded in Davidson and neighboring counties, May 2009 through April 2010, ranked by dollar value:
December 2009
1. 414 Lake Valley Drive, Franklin 37069
Buyer: Jess Rosen, trustee for Kenny Chesney
Sale price: $10 million
Builders/sellers: James C.D. and Rhonda G. Franks
Agents: none of record, though Rhonda Franks is owner of Battle Ground Realty
Builder Jimmy Franks, chief manager of Old South Construction LLC, dubbed this Tuscan-style villa “Bella Luce.” If published photos of the hilltop manse are any indication, the light is beautiful indeed, whichever way it shines upon a promontory with a 360-degree view of the Williamson County countryside. Just let the builder’s website sing the song:
“The massive great room offers breathtaking sunset views, with bookend fireplaces that rise 25 feet to meet the handcrafted Douglas fir trusses. This private estate has five bedroom suites, seven full baths, a gourmet kitchen with fireplace, a theater with stadium seating, billiards room, exercise room, lookout tower, six-car garage, and a magnificent, outdoor, infinity-edge pool and full-body spa.”
It sounds, and looks, exquisite. And country superstar Chesney will no doubt be glad to have the private gate, not to mention the “lookout tower,” next time the peasants of Brentwood take up pitchforks and set out to eat the rich.
The list price for the 30-acre Bella Luce property was $12.9 million. The main parcel with the home sold for $9.25 million, and the buyer picked up an adjoining seven acres of land for $755,000.
July 2009
2. 1078 Vaughn Crest Drive, Franklin 37064
Buyers: Vicki L. & Rodney B. Mott Sr., as trustees of trusts in their names
Sale price: $6 million
Seller: Charles R. Carroll
Agent for both sides: Bill E. Henson Jr. (Silverpointe Properties)
Former steel magnate Rod Mott and his wife make their second headliner buy in a year. Their purchase of a $3.4 million home for a family member, also in Williamson County, made the list in December 2008. At the time, Mott told The City Paper that he and his wife liked Middle Tennessee and might move to the area eventually from their home on the South Carolina coast.
Mott was CEO of International Steel Group Inc. when Mittal Steel Co. bought it in 2005, and he took the helm of then-bankrupt Canadian steel producer Stelco Inc. the next year to lead a turnaround effort that culminated in its sale to United States Steel Corp. in 2007. Toronto’s Globe and Mail estimated that those two takeovers were worth a total of about $109 million to Mott personally.
The Motts’ new digs appear impressive even by the over-the-top standards of the Laurelbrooke enclave in which they are situated. In almost 20,600 square feet of living space, according to the property listing, are rooms with dimensions like 40 by 28 and 34 by 18 feet. Apart from all the usual comforts of home, this one includes a full guest suite, a “summer kitchen,” a “chef’s kitchen,” a wine cellar, a theater, a fitness center with sauna and a bowling alley. Outside is a three-tiered, cascading pool.
Carroll, who built and sold Nashville-based Integrated Biometric Technology Inc. some years ago, is now CEO of ASET Corp., based in Dayton, Ohio, where he was once a police officer. ASET’s website says it helps corporate clients deal with security concerns related to “labor disputes, plant closures, executive protection and workplace violence issues.”
He originally listed the home at $7.25 million and had it on the market for almost four months before it went under contract. Williamson County property records show that he bought it for $6.55 million in December 2005.
July 2009
3. 1228 Canterbury Drive, Nashville 37205
Buyer: Little Harpeth LLC (for Richard W. & Andrea Waitt Carlton)
Sale price: $5.25 million
Sellers: David & Mary Catherine McClellan
Agent for both sides: Steve G. Fridrich (Fridrich & Clark Realty)
Rick and Andrea Carlton arrive in Nashville from Santa Fe, N.M., where Rick has been a successful real estate developer. They also bought a possible future home site near the Warner Parks (see #9).
Their Belle Meade home is a showplace. It made the cover of interior design magazine Veranda in 2002, a couple of years after healthcare investor David McClellan and his wife commissioned architectural firm McAlpine Tankersley and designer Landy Gardner to create it. The Mediterranean-style residence features oaken doors and fireplace stone both imported from the English Cotswolds, as well as other materials sourced in Italy, Spain and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
August 2009
4. 1825 Laurel Ridge Drive, Nashville 37215
Buyer: JRYSW Trust
Sale price: $4 million
Sellers: Fletcher D. Foster & Dennis J. Johnson
Agents: None of record
Foster, senior vice president and general manager of record label Universal South, and Johnson, a broker at Worth Properties, bought this 2.4-acre bluffside parcel in 2006 and constructed a home with a magnificent view of the city from the two-story rear colonnade overlooking its pool.
Visible in photos of the house that were available online before its sale closed were vaulted, exposed-beam ceilings, open-plan entertaining and dining areas, arched doorways throughout, a spacious kitchen centered on a six-burner stove and griddle, and many other top-of-the-line details.
Someone — we still don’t know who — paid well over double the property’s 2009 tax appraisal of $1.6 million to get this place. The mailing address of the trust belongs to accounting firm RSM McGladrey Inc. in Chicago.
May 2009
5. 28 Governors Way, Brentwood 37027
Buyers: Jerry A. & Suzanne Matthews
Sale price: $3.9 million
Builder/Seller: Distinctive Design Homes Inc.
Seller’s agent: Paula Duvall (Fridrich & Clark Realty)
Buyers’ agent: Sam Jovanov (French Christianson Patterson)
First the builder put this 14,650-square-foot, 22-room palace in Governors Club, with a “panoramic view of the 18th hole” of the club’s golf course, on the market for $4.2 million in January 2007. A year and a half later, the builder dropped the price to $4 million. In January of this year, the builder re-listed the property at $3.9 million with an offer to provide up to $3 million in seller financing at a 5 percent interest rate.
Ultimately, Distinctive Design sealed the deal by making a loan of $2.6 million to the buyers and also buying their old home for $1.8 million — and then listing it to sell at less than that price.
October 2009
6. 504 Granny White Pike, Brentwood 37027
Buyers: Robert P. & Mary C. LaGrone
Sale price: $3.3 million
Sellers: Ray Willis Hester and Evelyn E. Hester, as trustees for personal trusts
Sellers’ agent: Lisa Culp Taylor (Bob Parks Realty)
Buyers’ agent: Jeff Brandon (Realty Executives)
Situated on 4.7 acres, this 16-room, 11,900-square-foot chateau spent almost exactly a year — 363 days — on the market after initially listing at $3.95 million.
December 2009
7. 1641 Whispering Hills Drive, Franklin 37069
Buyer: Kevin D. Montgomery, trustee
Sale price: $3.14 million
Seller: Reliant Bank
Agents: none of record
In November 2009, Reliant took title to this Laurelbrooke house for $3.08 million after foreclosing on the proprietor of Nashville-based Brian D. Shaw Trucking LLC and his wife. Williamson County property records indicate it was built in 2008 and contains almost 11,900 square feet of living area.
There are no clues in the public record as to the identity of the homeowner represented by Montgomery, a Nashville lawyer.
December 2009
8. 828 Windstone Blvd., Brentwood 37027
Buyer: Rocky D. & Jean S. Tannehill
Sale price: $3 million
Builder/seller: Classic Design Homes Inc.
Seller’s agents: Caye Beaver Davis and Alison Davis (Keller Williams Realty)
Buyers’ agent: Tim Kelly (Zeitlin & Co„ Realtors)
This new 11,200-square-foot home in the Windstone subdivision features six bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and three half-baths.
Rocky Tannehill is an entrepreneur involved in Christian-oriented social media ventures, including Zoecity Software Inc. His family has chosen Nashville as its new base, relocating from the Seattle area.
“After a three-year search, we chose to relocate in Nashville because of the positive, pro-family environment,” Tannehill said when contacted via Facebook.
July 2009
9. 6460 and 6532 Edinburgh Drive, Nashville 37221
Buyer: Little Harpeth LLC (for Richard W. & Andrea Waitt Carlton)
Sale price: $2.9 million
Sellers: R. Bryan & Carole C. Easterling; John H. Tunstall
Sellers’ agent: Eric & Ria H. Grasman (Fridrich & Clark Realty)
Buyers’ agent: Steve G. Fridrich (Fridrich & Clark Realty)
The 52-acre tract the Carltons have purchased along the Little Harpeth River includes a 7,800-square-foot home, along with plenty of room to build an even grander abode, should they be so inclined.
February 2010
10. 5040 Murray Lane, Brentwood 37027
Buyers: Jasbir S. & Sanjam Dhillon
Sale price: $2.9 million
Seller: Franklin Synergy Bank
Seller’s agent: Allison Klausner (Pilkerton Realtors)
Buyers’ agent: none of record
This 13,400-square-foot house in the McGavock Farms subdivision was built in 2006. The bank foreclosed in January against Chapman Homes LLC, taking title to the property for $2.75 million. It had previously been on the market for $3.4 million, and it is appraised for taxes at $3.74 million.
The buyers are a double-doc couple: Jasbir Dhillon is a physician who practices emergency medicine, and Sanjam Dhillon is a radiologist.
November 2009
11. 1103 Belle Meade Blvd., Nashville 37205
Buyers: David F. & Cynthia Arnholt
Sale price: $2.78 million
Seller: Anna McIntyre Shaub
Seller’s agent: Steve G. Fridrich (Fridrich & Clark Realty)
Buyers’ agent: Kent McMillin (Fridrich & Clark Realty)
October 2009
12. 337 White Swans Crossing, Brentwood 37027
Buyers: Daniel L. & Sharon A. Huff
Sale price: $2.5 million
Builder/seller: Frawood Custom Builders LLC
Seller’s agent: Laura Baugh (Worth Properties)
Buyers’ agent: Carolyn Wood (Realty Executives)
August 2009
13. 4 Crooked Stick Lane, Brentwood 37027
Buyer: Martin Erat
Sale price: $2.175 million
Sellers: David J. & Sherie J. Hockenbery
Sellers’ agent: Jack S. Miller (Bob Parks Realty)
Buyer’s agent: Danny R. Anderson (Zeitlin & Co.)
Erat plays right wing for the Nashville Predators. His new pad is a five-bedroom, five-bath, 8,600-square-foot home in the gated Governors Club. Features include a billiard room, four fireplaces and covered porches.
November 2009
14. 14 Colonel Winstead Drive, Brentwood 37027
Buyer: Harry Allan IV
Sale price: $2.13 million
Sellers: Ronald M. & Susan R. Thomason
Sellers’ agents: Judy & Richard Williams (Crye-Leike)
Buyer’s agent: Judy Williams (Crye-Leike)
April 2010
15. 1101 Park Ridge Drive, Nashville 37205
Buyer: Pauline Bell Herndon
Sale price: $2.115 million
Seller: Nashville Bank & Trust Co., trustee for a personal trust
Seller’s agent: Elizabeth Walls (Fridrich & Clark)
Buyer’s agent: Melanie Baker (Zeitlin & Co.)
September 2009
16. 2055 Timberwood Drive, Nashville 37215
Buyers: William H. & Catherine A. Nealon
Sale price: $2.1 million
Sellers: Gregory D. Rice & Jonathan D. Watkins
Sellers’ agents: Sam Easley (Zeitlin & Co. Realtors) and Gregory D. Rice (Main Street Real Estate)
Buyers’ agent: Yvonne Kelly (Zeitlin & Co. Realtors)
June 2009
17. 300 White Swans Crossing, Brentwood 37027
Buyer: Tammy Matthews
Sale price: $2.095 million
Seller: Higham Management Inc.
Seller’s agents: Janice R. Lovvorn (Fridrich & Clark Realty) & Laura Baugh (Worth Properties)
Buyer’s agent: Laura Baugh (Worth Properties)
December 2009
18. 4408 Iroquois Ave., Nashville 37205
Buyers: William W. and Emily K. DeCamp
Sale price: $2 million
Sellers: Robert W. and Emily F. Kitchel
Agents: none of record
August 2009
19. 900 20th Ave. S., unit #1710, Nashville 37212
Buyer: Roger D. Clark, trustee for Taylor Swift
Sale price: $1.99 million
Seller: Adelicia Investors LLC
Agents: None of record
Twenty-year-old country/pop superstar Swift may or may not have just been having fun at Rolling Stone’s expense in January when she told the magazine she is having a koi pond installed in her two-story penthouse at the prow of the Adelicia condo tower in Midtown.
A spiral staircase, she said, would lead from the water to a most unusual observatory. “They’re delivering a human-sized birdcage, which I’ll put a brass telescope in,” Swift said. “The ceiling of my living room is painted like the night sky.”
January 2010
20. 1115 Crater Hill Drive, Nashville 37215
Buyer: Jenny Gregg Saad and Suhail Konstantin Saad
Sale price: $1.9 million
Sellers: William E. Bickley and Cynthia Renee Bell Bortscheller
Sellers’ agent: Steve G. Fridrich (Fridrich & Clark Realty)
Buyers’ agents: Rhonda Brandon and Robin Thompson (Worth Properties LLC)
August 2009
21. 428 Royal Oaks Drive, Nashville 37205
Buyers: Karey L. Witty and Joan W. Witty, trustees of the Joan W. Witty Revocable Trust
Sale price: $1.895 million
Builder/seller: HR Properties of Tennessee
Seller’s agent: Richard F. Bryan (Fridrich & Clark Realty)
Buyers’ agent: Jamie Granbery (Pilkerton Realtors)
November 2009
22. 313 Lynnwood Blvd., Nashville 37205
Buyers: John & Chantel Esposito
Sale price: $1.85 million
Sellers: Clay M. & Jeannette J. Whitson
Sellers’ agent: Steve G. Fridrich (Fridrich & Clark Realty)
Buyers’ agent: Amy Smith (French Christianson Patterson)
September 2009
23. 702 Brass Lantern Place, Brentwood 37027
Buyers: Tara L. & William Bevins Jr.
Sale price: $1.849 million
Seller: Michelle Elefante
Agent for both parties: Laura Baugh (Worth Properties)
February 2010
24. 3296 Carl Road, Franklin 37064
Buyers: Jon M. Young & April A. Ingram
Sale price: $1.845 million
Seller: Lewis Dunn
Seller’s agent: Tim Thompson (Johnson & Thompson Inc.)
Buyers’ agent: Ida Carrigan (Re/Max Elite)
November 2009
25. 3540 Trimble Road, Nashville 37215
Buyer: MJF Living Trust, for Jared Followill
Sale price: $1.83 million
Builder/seller: C. Rogan Allen
Seller’s agent: Amanda Wachtler (Pilkerton Realtors)
Buyer’s agent: Lana Murphy (White House Realtors)
It’s good to be Jared. In the course of November 2009, the bass player for hugely popular alt-rockers Kings of Leon turned 23 years of age, reportedly dumped his supermodel fiancée for Twilight Saga: New Moon star Ashley Greene, and bought what can only be described as a rock-star home perched on a hillside overlooking placid Trimble Road.