555 Lake Avenue
555 Lake Avenue under full contract, $26.5 million. 19,000 square feet, 8 acres, but just 8 bedrooms – there’s still room to expand, thank goodness. This property was never on the market but supposedly it was going to be and a buyer moved in and snapped it up.
For What It's Worth 
pocket listings.. about as easy to coordinate as syrian chemical weapon confiscations..
Pretty, but way too formal for me. I’d be afraid to put my feet up on anything. Not that I can’t appreciate the beauty of this home, but it’s a real statement and presumes a certain lifestyle. I don’t see a 40s couple choosing this lifestyle, but more power to whomever plunked down the cash. I’d be happy in the pool house.
if i had $26.5m, that’s where i’d put it. do you suppose there is some sort of subterranean command and control center under that circular garden affair?
And I would so NOT. For my $26m, I’d buy land with a mega view, and build something. The one PowerBall winner in South Carolina is probably contemplating the same issues, only seriously!
i am such a slob, i need a place i can live UP to. besides, the RR Phantom would look so excellent in the forecourt.
The Meadowcroft buyer, as I suspected.
Ah! I’ll bet that’s exactly right. Well done.
Do you know this for sure? Interesting…
For my part, I’d say I have some well-founded rumors; Mr. Anonymous probably has the straight scoop.
Just speculating, but the mid-country preference and willingness to suffer a 7-figure walkaway penalty, suggests pockets deep enough to consider Biondi’s house in the same category ($) as Meadowcroft.
Dude –
So if it was never on the market, does that mean….now brace yourself…that it was sold WITHOUT a broker? That the buyer didn’t have to pay a useless 6% vig? AND DON’T TELL ME THE SELLER PAYS!! That is a lie and you know it. The buyer saved like what? A $4.9 million dollar commission by driving himself to a house he already knew he wanted, instead of you driving, and doing pull my finger jokes?
So was that the largest sale of dirt in Greenwich this year? WITHOUT A BROKER!! Are all the “Professional” real estate agents hanging out right now, in some cheap, tawdry bar, crying in their cheap draft beers? Is the GAR Evil Princess, who seems to have disappeared BTW, discussing with her evil flying monkeys, some way to try and queer this deal? No homo reference meant. NTTAWWT.
Is there a fountain in the front? Not one of your relatives, you loser, the water kind. With the whizzing cherubs and naked mermaids? This house demands one.
Want to Welcome Wagon the new owners?
Your Pal,
Walt
Doug Stevens is named as the listing broker and presumably there was a buyers agent as well, which will be revealed when the deal closes. Not bad for the buyer’s agent – she thinks she has a $13 million sale all wrapped up, but her guy pays $1 million-three to walk away (no commission on that part, alas), and then buys a house for twice as much.
For this price, I’d rather be in Conyers or BH. $26.5 to live outside the gates?
Probably better built than anything in Conyers and miles closer to town. The family raised four boys, so I’m sure they preferred the convenience.
Belle Haven is close to town and far more impressive. This looks like town hall.
Well for heaven’s sake give me a call: we’ll go find you a house there more suitable to your taste.
I’m sure the buyer is very concerned with redistricting.
Shhh! His agent hasn’t mentioned that – doesn’t want to queer the deal.
Anybody familiar with the history of this house/property?
It was built by a Mr. Biondi and his wife who, going solely on Internet sources and absolutely not on any personal knowledge) were both Dartmouth grads (1979, 1980, respectively). He went on to become a partner at Lazard Freres where, again according to the Internet, he was ” a heavy hitter in the m&a field”). They had four boys together, a 28-year marriage and tragically, he came home one day and just collapsed, at age 50, in 2007. What I did learn from sources outside the Internet was that he was hugely respected, and both he and his wife were (and she still is) regarded as truly wonderful people (which, in my opinion, a 28-year-mariage suggests). That’s all I know except, as you and another reader have filled in, the property – not the house – this one was built in 2001 – was owned first by a Green Stamps heir and then by the Shah of Iran’s sister.
I remember being briefed about the property back after the Ayotolla Khomeini took control of Iran that the exiled Shah’s wife (he had passed away) was living there. We were basically told to stay clear…I was cool with that. Did escort the Queen of Jordan & her motorcade to Rte 95 from there late one night after dinner…..only in Greenwich
Geeze, can I get a “stay away” order from my car? I’d love to resume using my handheld; right now, I’m operating a “come hither” order, which isn’t as useful.
I remember, years ago, vaguely, when the Fara Diba lived there, that she got “in trouble” with the town, because she didn’t keep the front of the property correctly? Or it was overgrown, and she had to be told to trim it back? This is so many years ago and I was just a kid, but I remember my parents talking about it as we had to pass her place on the way to ours.
Used to belong to John R. Robinson, Beineke (S and H Green stamps) heir, and founder of the NRDC, but he traded up.
I thought they lived on Cliffdale
Chris,
Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t the Shaw of Irans wife live and own this property at one point. I believe 8 or so years ago.
correct but more like 30 years ago
everything is so picture pefect in this house that i’d be afraid to fart.
I’d guess that if you could afford the house, you could afford a maid to follow you around with a spritzer of air freshener
Mr. Biondi’s success was also partly due to his connection/access to and business association with his brother, Frank Biondi, head of Viacom. Or so I have heard.
If you are a real equity analyst, you should no you do not achieve this career of this depth just because your brother is also very successful.
A former lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Mr. Biondi joined the mergers and acquisitions group of First Boston, then run by Mr. Wasserstein and Joseph R. Perella, in the 1980s during the leveraged buyout boom. He followed Mr. Wasserstein and Mr. Perella to help found Wasserstein Perella, and he helped sell the firm to Dresdner Kleinwort Benson Wasserstein. In 2003, he went to Lazard, then led by Mr. Wasserstein.
Mr. Biondi graduated from Dartmouth College, where he played baseball and met his wife, Cynthia. Mr. Biondi received an M.B.A. and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.
Yes, the comment did rather sound like sour grapes from someone less successful.
While you guys are recording the history of that property, remember that Faith Rockefeller Model owned it before the Shaw’s widow. And when she owned it, it had 8.2 acres (according to the grand list). This was the early 1960s. Her brother Avery lived a few houses south on 9 acres.
The whole world learned Farah Pahlavi’s address when the local paper put an item in the police blotter about her dog and a neighbor’s dog having a fight, or something, and printed her address.