• Classifieds
• Archives
• About Us
• Contact Us

News,  Real Estate

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Phil Donahue Lists Waterfront Property at $27.5M

The real estate listing contains these two photos of the house for sale.  (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Fingelly.com photos

Westport residents Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas have put their Beachside Avenue property overlooking Long Island Sound on the market for $27.5 million, a record if the 7.56-acre estate sells at the asking price.

The celebrity couple—he is best known as a longtime TV talk show host, she for her “That Girl” TV series—bought the property at 120-122 Beachside Ave. in 1998. 

They had come under criticism in 1988 for demolishing a 1962-built experimental, all-concrete house on an adjoining property—which they sold in 2006 for $25 million, the current high for a Westport residential property.  (See WestportNow May 1, 2006)

Donahue denied he took down the house designed by John M. Johansen, the internationally known architect, to get a better view of Long Island Sound. He said he wanted more space, privacy and security for his family in their 17-room Tudor-style mansion. The vacant house next door was attracting “vagrants, lovers and other strangers,” he said.

In 2007, Donahue, now 76, and Thomas, 74, built the current house up for sale—a 8,716- square foot cedar-shingled rambler with five bedrooms, four full and two half bathrooms and at least three fireplaces. An octagonal guest structure near the entry gates houses a fitness facility and there is a gazebo near the water’s edge, according to the listing.

There is a gated, 420-foot long driveway that leads to front and rear parking areas and a garage for four cars.

Donahue and Thomas: second Beachside Ave. sale in six years. Walt Disney Pictures photo.

Other amenities cited in the listing include an elevator, security system, wet bar, multi-zoned heating and cooling systems, skylight(s), 9-plus-foot ceilings, office/computer room, partly finished full basement and second floor master suite with fireplace, hardwood floors, walk-in closet, whirlpool tub and vaulted ceiling.

Taxes shown on the listing information are $211,330 per year. The town assessed the property where the house is located at $15.1 million while the parcel with the fitness center was assessed at $2.2 million.

In 2006, Donahue and Thomas sold their home at 112, 114, and 116 Beachside Ave. to Herbert M. Allison Jr., then chairman, president and CEO of TIAA-CREF, one of the nation’s largest financial services firms. The sale at the full asking price of $25 million was a record for a Westport residential property.

In November 2010, a neighboring property on three adjoining parcels on the other side at 124, 126, and 128 Beachside Ave. on almost seven acres sold for $20 million. The estate had been listed for $37.9 million three years earlier. (See WestportNow Nov. 1, 2010)

Listing agent for the current sale is Nicholas Fingelly Real Estate with offices in Westport and Southport. It also had the listing on the earlier Donahue-Thomas sale. The property is formally owned by 112 & 2 Copper Hill Estates LLC, and 114 & 6 Copper Hill Estates LLC, of which Donahue and Thomas are the principals.

The Donahue-Thomas listing was first reported on The Realestalker blog.

Comments:     Comment Policy

Can’t wait to see who picks up this “summer cottage,” for such a bargain price!

Yowza!

<< Back to main