More than 2,500 homes sold for more than $1 million in 2013, with some of the biggest deals happening in Georgetown. For a rundown of home sales, see the slideshow. Below, a look at the top condo sales.
Penthouse Living
Henry and Carol Goldberg bought a four-bedroom penthouse in the Parc Somerset on Wisconsin Avenue in Chevy Chase for just under $8 million—believed to be the highest price paid for a condominium in Washington. The unit has more than 9,000 square feet of space, including a massive balcony and a marble foyer. Henry Goldberg is chairman of the commercial real-estate company Artery Capital Group.
Alma Brown—widow of former Democratic National Committee chairman and Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and a onetime executive at Chevy Chase Bank—sold in the same building. Her two-bedroom, three-bath condo went for $2.5 million.
Rosslyn’s Turnberry Tower also draws big names. Conservative heavyweight C. Boyden Gray and former sister-in-law Deecy Gray bought, as co-trustees, a three-bedroom condo in the building for $3.6 million. A founding partner of the law firm named for him, C. Boyden Gray was White House counsel to George H.W. Bush. Deecy Gray—who is married to Douglas Ginsburg, former chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit—is the widow of Burton Gray, Boyden’s brother. They’ll be neighbors with Marvin Bush—son of George H.W. Bush and brother of George W. Bush—who bought for $3.8 million.
Perhaps the biggest stir surrounding a condo purchase happened when liberal economics blogger Matthew Yglesias—who once tweeted that home ownership is a myth—paid $1.2 million for a condo near Logan Circle. In a converted Victorian rowhouse, it has exposed-brick walls and a patio. “Sounds like just the place to relax and unwind after a busy day of dismantling capitalism,” the Daily Caller’s Jim Treacher wrote.
Some sales information provided by American City Business Leads and Diana Hart of TTR Sotheby’s International Realty.
This article appears in the January 2014 issue of Washingtonian.