State’s highest-price house, a mansion in Alpine, finally sells (for $27.5 million)

Wine-tasting room. Imagine buying a house for $27.5 million – the highest price paid for a house in New Jersey in years, if not decades – and feeling like you got a good deal.

If the property was the former Frick family estate – a grand 33,000-square-foot, 12-bedroom, 19-bathroom residence on 12 acres with I-can’t-believe-it-comes-with-all-these amenities – you may just have done so.

At least, that’s the impression of the undisclosed buyer, who picked up a property in Alpine that is tucked into one of the country’s wealthiest zip codes.

The sale price was below the $32.9 million it recently was asking, and far below the $68 million it was listed for when it first went on the market – in 2010. That’s right, it took more than a decade to sell an estate owned by Kamson Corporation CEO Richard Kurtz, who purchased the property for $58 million in 2006.

But, as they say, there’s a buyer for every home.

Dennis McCormack of Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty found this one.

And what an estate they are getting. Consider, it has:
· a ballroom;
· a martini bar;
· a wine-tasting room;
· dual libraries (why only have one?);
· a 65-foot saltwater gunite pool,
· two art galleries (again, why only have one?);
· an indoor basketball court (there are 30-foot ceilings in the basement);
· a gated motor court with a heated driveway.

“It’s very rare to see a house of this magnitude with these amenities,” McCormack told realtor.com. “You could accomplish grand-scale entertaining in the house.” If it makes you wonder why Kurtz would ever leave, consider this: He never actually came. That’s right, Kurtz – who did multi-million-dollar renovations, never actually lived in the house. If you’re looking to live in Alpine, there are other options. Realtor.com says there are currently 26 homes for sale in Alpine (with a median price of just over $3 million).If you’re looking for an estate, you might want to check out the Chateau de La Roche, a 25,700-square-foot mansion in Mahwah. It is listed for just $25 million. Here’s hoping you get a good deal.

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