Barry Ackerley (1935-2011) Mansion

View From Dock

This is the former Denny-Blaine home of Barry and Ginger Ackerley. The mansion was purchased from the Ackerleys 6/11/2008 for $13.3 million by Dr. Frederic Hutchins Moll. The property was listed for sale for $15.0 Million in 2009 (Betsy Terry, Ewing and Clark) and later taken off the market.

Barry Ackerley (1935-2011) is a former owner of the NBA Seattle SuperSonics (aka Sonics). He purchased the Sonics in 1983 from Sam Schulman, who founded the team in 1967. The team won the NBA championship in 1979. During the 18 years of Ackerley’s ownership the team reached the playoffs 13 times. From The Seattle Times obituary: “Mr. Ackerley sold the Sonics in 2001 to a group of investors led by Howard Schultz [page 21 LW 130 Homes]. Mr. Ackerley was saddened when the team relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.” The team made the playoffs only once after it was sold by Ackerley in 2001. The Times article also noted “Ackerley came to Seattle and became its baron of billboards.” He was the founder and former Chairman/CEO of The Ackerley Group. The Ackerley Group owned television and radio stations that were purchased by Clear Channel Communications in 2001.

Dr. Moll graduated from Seattle’s Lakeside HS in 1969. (Other LW 130 Homes graduates of Lakeside include Charles Pigott ’47, Craig McCaw ’68, Paul Allen ’71 and Bill Gates ’73.) Dr. Moll received his MD from UW Medical School. He was a surgeon at Virginia Mason in Seattle. In 1989, Dr. Moll co-founded Silicon Valley based Origin Medsystems, Inc., a medical device company, which was acquired by Eli Lilly in 1992 in a $150 million deal. In November 1995, Dr. Moll co-founded Intuitive Surgical Inc., another Silicon Valley medical device company, and served as its first CEO. The company raised $6 million in a 2000 IPO. He co-founded Silicon Valley CA based Hansen Medical in 2002. The company designs and manufactures medical robotics. He was CEO from inception to 2010 when he was named Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. He resigned in 2011 and joined the BOD of Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation in Florida. Maybe he is moving back to this home.

The mansion is on page 33 of LW 130 Homes and has 6,580 sq ft on 0.46 acres. It is a prime lot on a point with 146 feet of waterfront and two docks, a tennis court and swimming pool.

Howard Schultz $21.7 Million Pay

View of home in winter

View of home in summer

Howard Schultz was paid $21.7 million in 2010 by Starbucks. This was a raise of $9.6 million over 2009. He is Starbucks’ founder and CEO. This pay package was the highest for a Washington state public company executive in 2010. This was reported in a recent Puget Sound Business Journal article. Schultz has also been in the recent news with his political and charity activities.

His home is on page 21 in LW 130 Homes. It is in Madison Park, south of the high rises, in an exclusive gated community of nine homes that are on the property of the William Garrard Reed estate. (He is the father of Gary Reed [10/1/10 blog post].) Howard drives through the community’s gate and then another gate to his property. His mansion and property, with 16,880 sq ft on 1.8 acres with 248 ft of waterfront, are the largest in community. It is best viewed between this time of year and March.

Dykstra on Evening Magazine

KING 5’s Evening Magazine featured me and the book Lake Washington 130 Homes on the Monday, 6/20/11, show. You can see it on the Internet.

“Move over Hollywood! Seattle now has its very own book plotting the houses of our rich and famous. Starbucks founder Howard Schultz, Bill Gates, you name it and it's likely here, showing you the where, when, and how of our most famous mansions. The book retails for $18, find more info at http://www.hundredhomes.net/ .”