Red Sox Owner John Henry Buys Waterfront Estate On Nantucket

Boston Red Sox owner John W. Henry has dropped $25 million on a waterfront estate on Nantucket in the Shimmo neighborhood.

Henry, who is also the principal owner of The Boston Globe and the Liverpool Football Club, is expected to close on an abutting property at 48 Shimmo Pond Road that could bring the total value of the two acquisitions to approximately $35 to $38 million, island real estate sources told the Current.

Taken together, the deals could break the record for the highest sale of residential real estate in Nantucket history, eclipsing the previous record of $36 million for a home on Lincoln Avenue that was set less than two weeks ago.

The transaction last Friday for $25 million listed Harbor Hill House LLC as the buyer, an entity registered to John W. Henry at 433 Plaza Real, Boca Raton, Fla.

The property Henry acquired on Friday at 4 Middle Valley Road is a waterfront estate that features multiple buildings totaling 18,100 square feet, including 10 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms. It was previously owned by entrepreneur Donald Burns, who tapped internationally known architect Hugh Newell Jacobsen to envision the compound. The property was recently featured in Architectural Digest.

The two properties at 4 Middle Valley Road and 48 Shimmo Pond Road - both owned by Burns - had been on the market together for $42.5 million.

On April 22, the property at 48 Shimmo Pond Road was transferred by Burns' limited liability company to another entity - 48 SBR LLC - registered to Boston attorney Joseph Brodigan. That sale was completed for $0.

Henry and his wife Linda Pizzuti have previously vacationed on Nantucket, and once told WGBH that the decision to move forward with the purchase of the Boston Globe was finalized during a beach walk on the island.

The deal for the waterfront estate marks just the latest high-end real estate transaction in Nantucket’s white-hot real estate market. The aforementioned $36 million sale of 21 Lincoln Avenue - which is believed to have sold to Texas businessman Robert Bass - was preceded by the $32.5 million sale of 42 Easton Street on Brant Point last October to Stephen A. Schwarzman.

Last year there were two other sales over $30 million on Nantucket, including the commercial properties of the Beachside Hotel for $38 million, and the Nantucket Inn for $30 million.

Video of the property below from Maury People Sotheby's International Realty: