MERCER ISLAND — A Mercer Island mansion with an Egyptian-themed indoor pool and a 12-foot chandelier by glass artist Dale Chihuly has finally sold — for the bargain-basement price of $12 million.
The sellers put the 23,000-square-foot home on the market six years ago, before the real-estate bubble crashed, and they initially listed it for $40 million.
“It’s like the (Las Vegas) Bellagio without the slot machines,” one visitor told The Seattle Times at the time.
But the property didn’t move, and the newspaper reported Saturday that an auction firm reduced the minimum bid on the property to $12 million in May.
The Puget Sound Business Journal identified the buyer as James Peter Edwards, the owner of Video Only, a Tukwila-based chain of electronics stores in Washington, Oregon and California.
The sellers were Chuck and Karen Lytle, who founded the Leisure Care retirement-community chain.
The home was built in 1977 and features indoor and outdoor saltwater pools and two wine cellars. The Lytles bought it in 1989 and remodeled the house about 10 years ago, according to county records. The 66-foot indoor pool is flanked by hand-carved columns decorated with Egyptian-inspired figures and designs.
The mansion sits on 1.5 manicured acres with a greenhouse, 150 feet of Lake Washington waterfront and a dock big enough for a 140-foot yacht. Inside are two master suites, four guest bedrooms, three kitchens, five full and four half bathrooms, and a workout gym.
The Lytles are downsizing to an 11,000-square-foot waterfront mansion in Hunts Point.
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