The Obamas buy their rental home in Washington
Reporting from Washington — Looks like former President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama are putting down deeper roots in Washington. After renting a house for their post-White House stint in the nation’s capital, the Obamas have purchased the eight-bedroom, nine-and-a-half-bath home for $8.1 million, according to property records.
The Obamas have said they plan to remain in Washington while their younger daughter, Sasha, finishes high school at Sidwell Friends. After leaving the executive mansion in January, the family settled into a rental home owned by Bill Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart and his wife, Glamour editor Giovanna Gray Lockhart, an 8,200-square-foot home that was built in 1921 and renovated in 2011.
The Obamas still own a Georgian-style home in the Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago, the city that will house the Obama presidential library.
Spokesman Kevin Lewis, in a statement, said the purchase just made sense for the family: “Given that President and Mrs. Obama will be in Washington for at least another 2 1/2 years, it made sense for them to buy a home rather than continuing to rent property.â€
Washington records show that Lockhart sold the home for $8.1 million to Homefront Holdings LLC, which is controlled by the Obamas. The deed transfer was recorded on Wednesday. Lockhart bought the home in 2014 for $5.295 million, records show.
The $8.1 million purchase price makes the Obamas’ new home the second-most expensive in the Kalorama neighborhood, behind the $23 million paid by Amazon founder (and Washington Post owner) Jeff Bezos for the former Textile Museum.
The Obamas have called the swanky Washington neighborhood (which they share with others, including first daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner) their home, but it has really functioned more like a home base for the globe-trotting family. The former first couple traveled to French Polynesia for an extended vacation after leaving the White House, and vacationed in Italy’s Tuscany.
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