Landmark Historic Mansion Sale - Mercer Island East Channel 2012

This landmark historic mansion sold for $5.3 million in December 2012. It was listed for $8.0 million in 2011, taken off the market later in the year and relisted in 2012 for $6.8 million. From the listing by Bob Bennion and Mary Snyder, Windermere “Recently refurbished estate property on 2.96 acres with lovely grounds, 175ft no-bank waterfront, and lake and mountain views. Stately 1934 Colonial designed by Edwin Ivey offers gracious interiors with exquisite millwork and hardwood floors. Entry with curved staircase; library; study; granite kitchen; paneled family room; officesuite; 5 bdr and 7+ bth, including gorgeous master suite & waterfront guesthouse; 3 fireplaces. Sweeping lawns, mature plantings; dock; 4-car garage.” The sellers were David R. and April Humphrey, the founders of Seattle based ILD Global. The buyers were Tso Ling and Shiang Wen Su. Tso Ling Su is the owner of Bellevue based Su Development, an apartment building developer.

This 7,400 sq ft mansion was built in 1934 in Seattle’s Madison Park on William Garrard Reed’s early 1900s waterfront estate (The Reed Estate). This Reed was the son of the 1^st Reed, Mark Edward, to run Simpson Investment. Simpson Investment is one of the largest property owners and family owned companies in the state. The Madison Park estate, a multi-mansion family compound, was that era’s version of the current Gates and Allen compounds. The estate is now a gated community of nine homes including Howard Schultz’s mansion (11/3/11 Seattle Mansions post). One of the original mansions (page 22 of LW 130 Homes), that is architecturally similar to this MI mansion, remains. It is occupied by William Garrard’s great nephew, Colin Moseley. Colin is now Chairman (fourth generation of family leadership) of Simpson Investment. When the Reed Estate was subdivided in the 1940s one of the mansions was cut into three pieces and barged to this Mercer Island location.

The sellers of the estate, David R. and April Humphrey, co-founded ILD Global in 1995. David, a retired Medical Doctor, is President and CEO and April is VP. The company is a business development and consulting enterprise and conducts frequent conferences, conventions and business development seminars locally, regionally and nationally for business owners. April is President of Women of Washington (WOW).

This is the former home of John J. and Emma Bonica. John, who died of a stroke at the age of 77 in 1994, was a world-renowned anesthesiologist and UW professor. He helped pioneer anesthesiology as a specialized field of medicine, was founder and chairman of UW’s Department of Anesthesiology and published numerous articles and books on the subject. Dr. Bonica was born in Italy. He came to New York City with his family when he was 11. His father died four years later and he became the major breadwinner for the family. He competed in wrestling while in high school and won both the New York City and state championships. Later he worked his way through college and medical school by wrestling professionally under the pseudonym “Johnny (Bull) Walker”, was the “Light Heavyweight Wrestling Champion of the World” and is in The Wrestling Hall of Fame. He continued to wrestle while in the army but concealed his military identity by becoming, in the ring, the “Masked Marvel.”

Gary Reed Moves into Madison Park Mansion

William G. “Gary” Jr. and Victoria Reed moved from their Medina home (see earlier blog below) late last year. The new home has 7,700 sq ft on 0.7 acres with 60 feet of waterfront. It is three houses south of the Reed Estate homes (pages 19 through 22 in Lake Washington 130 Homes, http://www.hundredhomes.net/). The southern home (page 22) in the Reed Estate is owned by Furman Moseley and his wife and Gary’s sister, Martha Reed Moseley. I’ve been told Furman and Martha live elsewhere and their son, Colin Moseley and his family live in that house. Colin is the current Chairman of Simpson Investment.

The 8 acre Reed Estate is where Gary and Martha grew up. It was established in the early 1900s by their grandfather, Mark E. Reed. It was that era’s version of the current Gates and Allen estates. It was subdivided in the 1940s into a private gated community of nine homes. Howard Schultz owns the most prominent of the current homes (page 21). His property has a gate inside the gate.

(Information on his previous Medina home is below.)

Map of the Stars Cruises

Anchor Bay Charters and I had multiple “Map of the Stars” cruises and parties this summer. The 3 hour “Map of the Stars” cruises included Lake Union sights (Sleepless in Seattle floating home, Chihuly’s Studio, views of Space Needle and downtown, etc.) and Lake Washington with the premiere waterfront mansions (Gates, McCaws, Schultz, et al.) of Madison Park, The Eastside’s Gold Coast (Meydenbauer Bay, Medina and Hunts Point) and the North end of Mercer Island. These tours include the homes of eighty percent of the state’s billionaires. The 4 hour cruises added most of Mercer Island and included all the state’s billionaires with Paul Allen’s 10 acre estate. I narrated most the tours and provided information as we view most of the homes in the book. The cruises were popular with Realtors and their clients as I also pointed out homes listed for sale for more than $5million.

The yacht has a wonderful upper level sundeck and a stately heated interior party and dining room with large picture windows. More information is at: http://www.anchorbaycharters.com/ and www.hundredhomes.net/Lake-Washington-Cruises

Cruises can be viewed on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=RpPLK0KrzxY&feature=channel