Washington Life Magazine
Washington Life Magazine

Real Estate News
by Mary K. Mewborn

The District
The magnificent Colonial-style residence at 2808 Woodland Drive, N.W. has sold for $4,605,000. Built in1989 on a serene street in Massachusetts Avenue Heights, the home features exquisite architectural design and details. A grand entrance foyer and reception hall lead to embassy size public rooms each with French doors affording access to a large balcony overlooking a pool and beautifully landscaped gardens. There are five bedrooms, six full and two half baths, two kitchens, and a rich walnut paneled library with a coffered ceiling. The property had been the residence of attorney Judah Best and Stephan A. Best. It was listed for sale by Washington Fine Properties, an affiliate of Sotheby's International. The new owner is Stephen M. Shapiro.

TV commentator and host of “Meet the Press” Tim Russert and his wife Maureen Orth, an author and correspondent for Vanity Fair, purchased 4907 Rockland Parkway, N.W.. The sellers were real estate developer John Mason and his wife JoAnn, a Washington National Opera trustee. The Masons now reside in a provincial house built in 1928 on Woodland Drive in northwest D.C.

1732 Q Street, N.W
2101 Connecticut, N.W.

In Dupont Circle, 1732 Q Street, N.W. now belongs to attorneys Myra and Chip Fawcett who paid $1,595,000 for the charming, distinctively American house with raised front and rear porches, transom window and open floor plan. The seller was Bernardo Gonsalves, a realtor with Long & Foster. Bobbie Brewster, a Coldwell Banker-Pardoe agent and expert on Washington architecture, represented the new owners.

Coldwell Banker's Bobbie Brewster also represented Myra and Chip Fawcett in the sale of unit number 24, their $1,200,000 condominium in the prestigious residential building at 2101 Connecticut, N.W. The terracotta and brick edifice known simply as “2101” was inspired by New York's luxurious Shelton Club Hotel and constructed in 1927 by Harry M. Bralove. It is readily identifiable by the gargoyles and griffins perched atop each of its five arched entranceways. The purchasers of the recently renovated apartment are attorney Joseph Clark and his wife, Carol, whose new home boasts a wide central gallery, sun porch, and access to a rooftop terrace.

Coldwell Banker's Nancy Taylor Bubes was the listing agent for 3106 Q Street, N.W. with its four bedrooms and three and a half baths. The sellers were Maurice Burg and Ruth C. Burg, a retired administrative judge with the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals who has since served as a private mediator and arbitrator. The Burgs sold their Georgetown home for $1,408,500 to Diane Plumb, a supporter of the Samaritan Ministry of Greater Washington. Diane Plumb previously lived in a grand four-story brick Colonial-style townhouse built in 1900 at 1412 29th Street, N.W. The five-bedroom home has hardwood floors, high ceilings, and decorative moldings. The formal living room has a bay window and a large gas fireplace with a richly detailed mantel. The dining room's arched entranceway adds elegance. The master bedroom suite with French doors and a deep bay window overlooks the garden and has a fireplace. The au pair suite, which is essentially a studio apartment, is accessible from a private front door and contains a fully renovated bath and a full kitchen. Additional amenities include two separate laundry areas, a security system, a fully fenced yard with raised flower beds, and a rooftop deck with built-in benches affording views of the Washington Monument and Watergate in the distance. The new owners, a Washington attorney and his wife who prefer to remain nameless, paid $1,575,000 Ms. Plumb's East Village manse.

Andrea Thimm and Alfred Thimm, president and chief operating officer of The Palm Management Corporation (which operates all thirty Palm Restaurants nationwide) have bought 2942 Ordway Street, N.W. for $2,550,000 from Jane Hannaway, director of the Education Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Hannaway was recently divorced from Nobel Laureate and best-selling author Joseph Stiglitz, a former World Bank chief economist and senior vice-president turned critic of international economic institutions. The Nobel Prize winner helped create a new study of economics known as “The Economics of Information” which explores the consequences of information asymmetries and has been used to explain market failures, corporate looting, and the Bush administration's implied mismanagement of the economy. Professor Stiglitz still lives in New York while his ex-wife now resides in a $1,300,000, three-bedroom home with three and a half baths at 2708 Dumbarton Street, N.W. Ms. Hannaway bought the Dumbarton property from Robert Williams, a nationally acclaimed portrait painter, and Gail Rogers, a prominent landscape architect who designed the home's garden. Coldwell Banker realtor Nancy Taylor Bubes was the listing agent for both Hannaway's Ordway and Dumbarton Street properties.

Nancy Taylor Bubes was also the listing agent for 2706 N Street, N.W., representing the recently married sellers, Tom and Anne Falatko. Tom Falatko is vice president of acquisitions for Madison Marquette, a private real estate equity firm, and Anne Falatko is a partner of Celerityit, an IT consulting firm. The couple sold their house for $699,000 to Catherine Krapf and Seth Ayers (who is believed to be a research analyst at the World Bank). The Falatkos then used Nancy Taylor Bubes' expertise to help close on 1347 30th Street, N.W. which they bought for $1,165,000 from Jay Greenan, the strategist and director of business development for the marketing company TKMP.

Nancy Taylor Bubes also helped facilitate the sale of 2242 Hall Place, N.W. The seller, Christopher Miller, has reportedly moved to Connecticut with a financial firm, received $1,102,000 from Neil E. Hare and Kate Sullivan Hare. Neil is vice president of corporate communications and small business marketing for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Kate is executive director of healthcare policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Chester A. Crocker and his wife Saone have paid $1,775,000 for a five-bedroom house at 2222 Wyoming Avenue, N.W. Mr. Crocker was assistant secretary of state for African affairs during the Reagan administration and teaches strategic studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He is also a director of ASA Limited and a member of the Pension Investment Committee and the Finance Committee. The Crockers bought their new home from former ballerina Tatiana Dominick, the daughter of the late Russian painter Ivan Djeneeff who died in 1955. .

Maryland
Thomas Friedman, the New York Times foreign affairs columnist whose post-9/11 columns were recently released in book form under the title “Longitudes and Attitudes,” has sold the home he and his wife Ann owned in Bethesda. The fourbedroom house sits on more than an acre on Redwood Avenue and boasts a wine cellar and a swimming pool. The property reportedly listed for $2,100,000 and sold for $1,950,000. Friedman, who is a three time Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, is also the author of “From Beirut to Jerusalem” and “The Lexus and the Olive Tree.”

Virginia

1933 Birch Road

By press time, 1933 Birch Road in McLean will have changed hands. The sellers are Don Stein and Kathleen Madison. The prospective buyers of this aptly described “funky contemporary” with two master suites, three full and two half baths, two decks and a garden, are Tracy Mayo and Frank Langan. Weichert's Penny Yerks listed the property for $1,050,000.

Penny Yerks also listed 634 River Bend Road, the $3,695,000 property situated on six acres in the highly sought after Villa Ecuador neighborhood of Great Falls. The buyers of the six-bedroom house built by the Gulick Group are Brenda and Rick Rahim. He is president and founder of VMC Satellite, the world's largest independently owned online dealer of satellite dish network systems. Built by Brown Custom Homes, Inc., 50 Warwick Stone Way in Great Falls features six bedrooms, a home office, seven fireplaces, three custom decks, wood paneling, oak flooring, and high ceilings. Sellers Terrance J. and Martha D. Laber purchased the brick mansion in 1999 for $2,300,000 when Terrance was an executive with AOL. Terrance is now chief information officer and managed services business executive for Logical, an international provider of high performance IT integration solutions and a division of Datatec Limited, a $2 billion business listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The purchaser of the Labers’ old residence is The Patricia Jane Bugge Living Trust. The sale price was $2,296,000.

634 River Bend Road

Rumor has it that “Hickory Hill” may be under contract. On the market since late last year, the historic property where Ethel Kennedy has lived for the last 46 years was listed for $25 million by Washington Fine Properties, a Sotheby's International Affiliate. According to the current buzz, the antebellum mansion situated on just under six acres at 1147 Chain Bridge Road in McLean may be snapped up by developers, unfortunately intent on subdividing the history- filled Langley Farms estate.

Please Send Real Estate News Items to Mary_Mewborn@Yahoo.com



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