Saudi Government Buys McLean Estate From AOL Co-Founder For $43M
The 7-acre Merrywood estate along the Potomac River in McLean has just sold for $43M, potentially setting a D.C.-area record.
AOL co-founder Steve Case, who lived there for 13 years, sold the property last week to a buyer listed as the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The 23K SF estate was previously the childhood home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Case and his wife bought the property in 2005 for $24.5M. It was listed by TTR Sotheby's International Realty's Mark Lowham and JLL's Juliana May.
The sale comes after the estate of another AOL co-founder, the late James Kimsey, listed his Northern Virginia property last week for $62.95M, the most expensive home on the D.C. market.
AOL, previously headquartered in Loudoun County, was an economic driver for the region in its heyday. The company, which had over 30 million subscribers and was the dominant internet service in the 1990s, sparked the region's prominence as a hub for data centers, now one of Loudoun's biggest assets. In addition to Case and Kimsey, Washington Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis made the bulk of his fortune at AOL.
