Karwai Tang/WireImage; Getty; Michael Walmsley; Insider
- Jeff Bezos introduced earlier this yr that he's transferring to Miami with fiancée Lauren Sanchez.
- The Amazon founder leaves behind a set of eight properties in ritzy Seattle suburbs.
- 5 of the properties — one in all which is presently on the market — haven’t been beforehand reported.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos injected some severe money into Seattle's actual property market in 2019. On the heels of his high-profile divorce announcement, Bezos went on a $45 million homebuying bonanza — snatching up not one, not two, however 4 beforehand unreported properties within the ultra-exclusive Hunts Level enclave.
These new purchases mixed together with his present Seattle-area luxurious properties — together with a newly recognized property purchased in 2015 — means Bezos, who introduced earlier this yr that he’s transferring to Miami with fiancée Lauren Sanchez, will depart behind a Washington state actual property empire value as a lot as $190 million, based mostly on Zillow estimates.
Bezos spent $45 million on the 4 properties within the months after his divorce from novelist MacKenzie Scott in 2019. Enterprise Insider found the properties by cross-referencing property tax information towards addresses related to Bezos' enterprise ventures and different properties he’s recognized to personal.
Hunts Level is a peninsula east of Seattle with simply 400 residents. It's been dwelling to huge names in enterprise, together with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, members of the Nordstrom household, telecom magnate Craig McCaw, and former Costco CEO James Sinegal.
By means of a belief, Bezos snapped up a waterfront Hunts Level property for $37.5 million in April 2019. The house has 300 toes of shoreline, a rooftop deck with a hearth, and a glass bridge connecting to the two-story guesthouse.
Even earlier than his 2019 procuring spree, Bezos already owned dear close by actual property on the shores of Lake Washington. He purchased a $45 million waterfront property in 2010, in line with the Puget Sound Enterprise Journal, instantly adjoining to a different two-home waterfront property Bezos purchased for $10 million in 1998. The sprawling compound is positioned simply south of Hunts Level within the Medina neighborhood, the place Invoice Gates lives up the road.
When he's on the town, Bezos stays on the Hunts Level residence, neighbors say.
A consultant for Jeff Bezos declined to remark.
A trio of houses for the assistance
The three different houses Bezos bought in 2019 are extra modest, comparatively talking. All three are inside a mile of his new waterfront property; the priciest offered for $3.3 million, whereas the least costly went for $1.8 million. One of many houses, a four-bedroom, is presently on the market for $4.4 million. (Enterprise Insider twice requested the itemizing agent for a tour however obtained no response. The agent, Tere Foster, has represented Bezos on different transactions.)
Andrew Webb / Readability Northwest Images
Equally, in 2015, Bezos bought a relatively smaller property throughout the road from his large Medina compound for $3.9 million, one other beforehand unreported buy. The house was bought via a belief managed by the identical legislation agency, and with the identical property tax tackle, as the opposite Medina properties Bezos and Scott bought earlier than their divorce, in line with King County information. It's unclear whether or not Bezos now controls these properties or in the event that they went to Scott within the divorce, information of which aren’t public.
All 4 of Bezos' 2019 properties have been equally bought via trusts and LLCs that masks the proprietor's identification, however they ship their property tax payments to a PO field additionally utilized by Blue Origin, Bezos' rocket startup, in line with county information.
Dealer Rick Moux mentioned he wasn't conscious the LLC that bought a Hunts Level property he listed in 2019 was linked to Jeff Bezos till Enterprise Insider requested him about it. The dealer representing the customer instructed Moux that the shopper would stroll if Moux didn't decrease the worth by $100,000, Moux recalled. Moux refused, and the customer bought the property in any case. "I suppose I acquired Jeff for $100,000," the agent mentioned, laughing.
4 Hunts Level residents, who requested to not be named, instructed Enterprise Insider that Bezos' workers and safety reside in these smaller properties. One resident mentioned that they had spoken to the folks residing in all three properties, who confirmed in conversations that they labored for the Amazon founder.
"Nice commute," this resident mentioned.
That resident added that they routinely noticed Bezos' safety workers understanding within the driveway of one of many houses, which is positioned subsequent to the one entrance and exit to the unique peninsula and is studded with cameras, BI confirmed by visiting the property. Public information recommend two Gavin de Becker & Associates safety brokers have ties to the house. Bezos is understood to make use of the agency for his safety element.
A second Hunts Level resident, who confirmed that the individuals who had resided within the dwelling have been Bezos' safety element, added that the guards have been nice neighbors who appeared to take yard care severely.
At one other property, recognized by neighbors because the "chef home," workers prepare dinner meals and ship it to Bezos' important residence in a "golf cart with a warming oven," a 3rd resident mentioned. Nobody on the property responded to a knock on the door, however from the doorstep, BI may see numerous sheet pans and different cookware stacked within the kitchen.
When Sanchez is on the town, she's seen strolling across the neighborhood, the third resident added.
The previous Amazon CEO, who’s the Twenty fourth-largest landowner within the US in line with The Land Report, additionally owns an enormous ranch close to the city of Van Horn, Texas, a number of flats in Manhattan, the biggest dwelling in Washington, DC, a record-breaking Los Angeles property, and a $78 million dwelling in Hawaii.
His most up-to-date purchases — neighboring $79 million and $68 million properties — are on Indian Creek, a man-made island off of Miami. Generally known as the billionaire bunker, the closely guarded island is dwelling to the ultrarich, together with Carl Icahn, Tom Brady, and Ivanka Trump.
The brand new digs are a pleasant set-up for the second-richest man on the planet. The one drawback? Bezos' yacht, a $500 million vessel referred to as Koru, which is the biggest crusing yacht on the planet, is reportedly so massive it's compelled to slum it amongst oil tankers at a Florida port.
