The Hawaii estate that was featured on “Magnum, P.I” is seen in this 2012 file photo. The three-acre estate in the East Oahu community of Waimanalo was sold for $8.7 million to a Chicago entity with close ties to President Barack Obama.
The buyer of the $8.7 million Hawaii beachfront estate known as the home of Tom Selleck’s 1980’s television character “Magnum P.I.” — a Chicago entity with close ties to President Barack Obama — has “strong ties to Hawaii,” the firm that represented the seller said Thursday.
The entity that recently closed on the sale, Wamanalo Paradise LLC, lists as its manager Judy Grimanis, an executive assistant for Chicago-based venture capital and private equity firm The Vistria Group, which has ties to Obama, who was born in Hawaii and graduated from Punahou School.
Vistria Group is headed up by Obama’s close friend and golf companion Martin Nesbitt, who is also the president of the Barack Obama Foundation, the organization running the effort to build the Obama presidential library. Honolulu is one of four sites vying to host the center.
Also, documents pertaining to the sale were sent to Seth Madorsky, a partner with Chicago-based Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP who is listed as a donor to the Obama presidential campaign in 2012, according to public records.
The listing for the three-acre property received interest from buyers from all over the world, Worrall, who represented the seller — former Republican state Rep. Eve Glover Anderson — told PBN.
Worrall, vice president of List Sotheby’s International Realty, said that the historic oceanfront home in Waimanalo along Kalanianaole Highway, which was built in 1933 and called “Pahonu,” attained more interest from buyers than any other property she has listed in her more than 50 years in the business.
A website set up to market the property garnered more than 50,000 views.
“It was partly because of the association with Magnum [P.I.],” said Worrall, who worked with her daughter, Elizabeth Worrall Daily, to represent the seller. “So many people were trying to get on the property, even willing to pay me to get on it. I finally reached a point that I had five, six, seven or eight inquiries a week. It was an incredible amount of interest.”
In the end, though, before being sold, the seller reduced the price from $10.5 million to $7.5 million, with the property eventually being sold for $8.7 million to Waimanalo Paradise LLC, which was the least complicated and highest offer, meaning that it was an all-cash transaction.
About a year ago, the property was listed for$15.75 million.
Worrall said that Anderson, whose stepmother was the late Barbara Cox Anthony of the Cox Enterprises fortune, wanted to sell to a buyer who would keep the property mostly how it is and not make any major changes. Developers, who did show interest at first, weren’t in the running in the end.
The estate was called “Robin’s Nest” on the “Magnum, P.I.” series, which ran on CBS from 1980 to 1988 and starred Selleck, who is currently starring in another CBS series, “Blue Bloods,” which airs after another Hawaii-filmed series, “Hawaii Five-0,” on Friday nights.
The 11,054-square-foot home sits on about three acres of oceanfront land, with beach access and a turtle pond.
The property has a total assessed value of about $9 million, according to public records.
Mary Worrall declined to divulge any information on the buyer because of a confidentiality agreement she signed, although she spoke pretty candidly about the property.
She said that Anderson, who has been living at the estate, will be moving to an agricultural lot nearby, where she can have all of her pets with her in a medium-sized home.
The property had been in Anderson’s family for more than 80 years.
“Anybody that loves Hawaii, would love the property,” Mary Worrall said. “It’s a really remarkable property and had remained in the family’s hands for quite a while.”
Duane Shimogawa Reporter – Pacific Business News
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