Actor Kevin Spacey’s Inner Harbor pier home sold in an auction on Thursday to an undisclosed buyer for $3.24 million.
More than two dozen people gathered at the steps of the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse for a 15-minute auction in which bids rose from a starting figure of $1.5 million to the winning offer.
Paul Cooper of Alex Cooper Auctioneers conducted the auction, a court-authorized foreclosure sale. Spacey was not present. The successful bidder did not give his name but referred questions to a real estate agent named Sam Sheibani, who specializes in luxury properties and represents the buyer.
Reached by phone after the auction, Sheibani, of Compass Real Estate, declined to disclose the buyer’s name but described him as “a local real estate developer from the DMV” who has “properties all over” and saw value in the Inner Harbor residence.
The 9,000-square-foot property is actually two five-story residences that have been combined and together feature panoramic views of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and Outer Harbor. The address is 622 Ponte Villas North, at the end of a pier in the gated Pier Homes at Harborview community off Key Highway in south Baltimore.
Built by developer Leroy Merritt, the residence has six bedrooms, seven full bathrooms, three half-bathrooms, an elevator, a sauna, a home theater, a billiard room, a rooftop terrace with a 360-degree view and two two-car garages. Marks Thomas, now Moseley Architects, was the lead designer. Merritt, who died in 2010, lived there briefly. Former Orioles third baseman Manny Machado is another former resident. The red neon Domino Sugars sign is visible directly across the water.
According to public land records, the property last sold in 2017 for $5.65 million to Clear Toaster LLC. At the time, Spacey’s manager Evan Lowenstein said he was behind Clear Toaster, but Spacey lived in it and has listed it in court records as his address. In an interview with Piers Morgan last month, Spacey said it “has been my home and Evan and Lucie’s [Lowenstein’s] home since 2016.”
‘Iconic’ property
Asked whether the mystery buyer intends to live in the residence, Sheibani said, “we don’t know yet.”
Sheibani said he doubted that the buyer would want to subdivide the property.
“I think the appeal of that unit is the fact it is two units combined, which makes it kind of iconic,” he said.
Sheibani said the buyer was attracted to the property because he sees it as unique not just for the region but “even really the Northeast. When the opportunity came up for him to be able to own something as beautiful as this, he didn’t want to miss the opportunity.”
Alex Cooper conducted the auction on behalf of a lender who received Circuit Court approval last year to sell the property in a foreclosure sale. A $100,000 deposit was required to bid. Paul Cooper declined to say how many people registered for the auction.
Spacey, whose real name is Kevin Spacey Fowler, will turn 65 on Friday and has won two Academy Awards – Best Actor in a Supporting Role for “The Usual Suspects” in 1996 and Best Actor in a Leading Role for “American Beauty” in 2000. He moved to the Inner Harbor when he was starring as Frank Underwood in the “House of Cards” series that was filmed in and around Baltimore for Netflix. Netflix dropped him from the cast in 2017 after he was accused of sexual misconduct around the start of the #MeToo movement.
More than 20 men have accused the actor of sexual misconduct in the U. S. and Great Britain since 2017. Spacey has maintained his innocence and has never been convicted of any crimes, but he has admitted to experiencing financial difficulties stemming from the legal costs of defending himself from the allegations and from loss of work as an actor.
In the interview last month on the “Piers Morgan Uncensored” program, Spacey said he’s millions of dollars in debt and has to put his belongings in storage.
“I can’t pay the bills that I owe,” he said when asked about the foreclosure auction. “I still owe a lot of legal bills…It’s considerable, many millions. That house itself is many millions.”
No connection
Sheibani said the buyer has “zero connection” to Spacey and the fact that the actor lived there isn’t what sparked his interest.
“It’s all about the real estate. It’s all about the property,” Sheibani said. “It’s unfortunate…what’s happening with Mr. Spacey, but it’s really all about the property.”
Sheibani also said he thinks the buyer got a good deal for $3.24 million.
“The value of the property is significantly higher than that,” he said. “Given all the costs that are going to be involved with this transaction, the ultimate amount is going to be higher than that, but I do believe the property is definitely worth significantly more.”
How much more?
“TBD,” he said.
