The four-bedroom home overlooks Chesapeake Bay and offers amenities and services from Ritz-Carlton Residences
The Baltimore penthouse late novelist Tom Clancy spent $15 million remodeling will head to auction next month, after years on the market.
The four-bedroom apartment, which overlooks the Chesapeake Bay from the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Inner Harbor, Baltimore, will be offered without reserve at an auction held on the premises on Dec. 12, Elite Auctions, which is handling the sale, has announced.
Clancy, whose thrilling spy and military fiction included bestsellers such as “The Hunt for the Red October,” “Clear and Present Danger” and “Patriot Games,” owned the apartment for only a few years before he died in 2013 at the age of 66. He acquired the three-unit spread directly from developers in 2009 in a $12.64 million deal, public property records show.
He spent the next two years and more than $15 million on “materials, finishes and features” to unify the three units and create a gallery-like contemporary home, designed with a sleek white color palette, according to the auctioneers and images of the home.
The sixth-floor apartment spans roughly 12,000 square feet—larger than most single-family houses in Baltimore—comes with a private elevator, two home offices and private outdoor space. There’s also a home theater filled with plush seating, a gym and smart-home technology.
The home is a “rare gem” in the city, said Randy Haddaway, CEO and founder of Elite Auctions. Owners also have access to the Ritz Carlton’s amenities and services, he added. They include a meditation garden, dry cleaning and maid services, among others.
But even with all the perks, Clancy’s lavish Charm City digs have struggled to find a buyer. The seller, Clancy’s widow, has turned to an auction after listing the home for sale on and off since 2015. It first hit the market five years ago, reportedly asking $12 million, a price that has since halved. It was most recently asking $5.9 million with listing agent Angel Stevens of Cummings & Co. Realtors.
At that price, the writer’s former penthouse is still the third most expensive condo for sale in Baltimore, according to listing records on Zillow. Homes with such few comparables can be difficult to sell in any market, and Baltimore saw fewer than 20 apartments trade hands for $1 million or more over the last year, according to data from Redfin.
It will be the second former Clancy property to sell this year if the auction is a success.
The sale comes several months after Clancy’s widow, who could not be reached for comment, sold the writer’s long-time estate in Huntingtown, Maryland, about 45 miles south of Washington, D.C. A far cry in style from his glamorous penthouse, the enormous wooded compound was built on the site of a former summer camp and sold in August for $4.9 million, Mansion Global reported.
Bidders may participate in the auction in person or remotely, according to the auction house.
Read Mansion Global’s full article HERE.
