View full sizeThe Waterwood Estate, the former home of inventor Donald Brown and his wife, has been listed for sale for $19.5 million. The lakefront property in Vermilion is one of Northeast Ohio’s most unusual homes, a series of pods linked by glass corridors.
VERMILION, Ohio — One of Northeast Ohio’s most unusual – and at $19.5 million, priciest – homes is for sale, offering well-heeled buyers a shot at 160 acres of lakefront property.
The Waterwood Estate features several rotating floors, two indoor pools, a private marina and a helicopter landing pad — helicopter sold separately.
Built in 1991, the Vermilion mansion was home to inventor Donald Brown and his wife, Shirley, who died in a plane crash last year. Brown was best known for inventing drop ceilings, the ubiquitous suspended ceilings used in office buildings, schools and homes. But the Waterwood Estate has only one drop ceiling, in a mechanical area of the house.
A series of pods connected by glass corridors, the 38,000-square-foot house includes five bedrooms and nine bathrooms, plus seven half-baths. A fishing reservoir and a waterfall break up the grounds, which roll toward 2,300 feet of Lake Erie frontage.
“I don’t think there’s anything in Ohio that would compare with this as far as location, the fact that it’s on the lake, the square footage, the beauty of the home, and the views,” said Scott Street of Street Sotheby’s International Realty, which is marketing the property with the CB Richard Ellis brokerage. “It’s something that you expect to see in Malibu or somewhere like that.”
Street, who is pre-screening potential buyers before showing them the house, has seen a diverse crowd. Some people want to live there. One group wants to open a resort and use the helicopter to fly guests in and out. Another is a ministry. “I don’t know what they want to do, exactly,” he said.
View full sizeThe Waterwood Estate includes a helipad and a helicopter hangar – helicopter sold separately. The 160-acre property includes 2,300 feet of Lake Erie frontage, a marina, a pier, a floating dock and a two-acre fishing reservoir.
Though Sotheby’s just listed the home, CB Richard Ellis had been quietly shopping it to potential corporate buyers for months. The commercial real estate brokerage has handled several deals, including land sales in Avon, for the Brown family.
When Donald and Shirley Brown’s two sons decided to sell the Waterwood Estate, CB Richard Ellis positioned the property as a corporate retreat.
“After a few months, it became apparent that we needed to get this out to the high-end residential user type,” said Brian Hurtuk, a CB Richard Ellis vice president who knows the Brown family. “It’s really the piece of property that just makes it so spectacular, whether you like sunrises or sunsets, the way the seasons will all reflect off Lake Erie.”
Hurtuk said the property appraised at more than $19.5 million. He would not provide specific details. Real estate insiders said such homes — considered super high-end — rarely fetch their replacement costs.
View full sizeBuilt in 1991, the 38,000-square-foot house includes five bedrooms, nine bathrooms and seven half-bathrooms. Donald and Shirley Brown lived there until last year, when the couple died in a plane crash at the Lorain County Regional Airport.
“I think most of these houses weren’t built expecting to recoup their investment,” said Howard ‘Hoby’ Hanna, president of Howard Hanna Ohio.
“When you’ve built a house for $40 million or you’ve put $30 million into a house, you’ve enjoyed it. You’ve loved it, but that doesn’t mean anybody is going to pay you that number.”
The Waterwood Estate is the highest-priced home for sale in Northeast Ohio, and possibly the state, at least according to Realtor.com and listing services.
But it’s not the only high-profile house on the market. In July, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services listed Eschman Meadows, the $15 million Nashport estate of Tami Longaberger, chief executive officer of the Longaberger Co.
And Howard Hanna has been marketing Moxahela Estate, a Gates Mills mansion built in the early 1900s by one of the founders of the Jones Day law firm. The pricetag: $10 million.
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