The 40-acre Walnut Hill estate in Rockville was once the homestead of the late philanthropists Harwood and Louise Cochrane. (Images courtesy CVRMLS)
The former homestead of the late Harwood and Louise Cochrane sold last month to members of another prominent Richmond family in the highest residential real estate deal in the region last month.
An LLC tied to Thomas and Ann Gottwald bought the 40-acre Walnut Hill estate in Rockville for $4.5 million. The May 19 all-cash deal was above the estate’s April list price of $4.25 million.
Meg Grymes with The Steele Group | Sotheby’s International Realty had the listing, representing sellers Jeff and Kimberly Bisger, who purchased Walnut Hill in 2022 for $2.5 million. Jeff Bisger is a former chairman of local development firm Thalhimer Realty Partners.
Kim Condyles and Taylor Thomas with SRMF Real Estate represented the Gottwalds. Teddy Gottwald is CEO of petroleum additives company NewMarket. Ann Gottwald owns The Georges boutique hotel in Lexington.
Hanover property records list the Gottwalds’ Richmond residence as the mailing address for the purchasing LLC. Requests to Condyles and Thomas for comment were unreturned.
The Gottwalds also own a riverside residence in Henrico, on a private island downriver from the Huguenot Road bridge that was at the center of a lawsuit last year over repairs to an old bridge that provides the only access to the Gottwalds’ and other prominent owners’ properties there. Henrico announced last fall it would replace the old bridge with its acquisition of a portion of the Kanawha Canal.
The 40-acre property was once part of a 450-acre farm.
At 12428 Walnut Hill Drive, Walnut Hill was once part of a 450-acre farm owned by the Cochranes, one of Richmond’s most philanthropic couples and former board members and major donors of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Harwood Cochrane founded Overnite Transportation, which he sold to Union Pacific Corp. in 1986 for $1.2 billion. He died in 2016 at age 103, six months after wife Louise died. The Cochranes donated the farm to the VMFA, which partnered with real estate firm Midlothian Enterprises to develop the land as a residential community.
Built in 1954, the Greek Revival manor house was fully renovated in the late 2000s and features millwork saved from Long Branch Plantation, a 19th-century estate in Clarke County. The house spans 8,000 square feet and has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, three half-baths.
In the four years that the Bisgers owned Walnut Hill, they invested in upgrades to the property, including an equestrian barn, a renovated kitchen and an outdoor living pavilion. Hanover assessed the property at about $2.5 million.
The estate hit the market April 17 and went under contract the next day.
The house at 307 Oak Lane sold for over $1 million over list price.
May’s second-highest sale, according to the Central Virginia Multiple Regional Listing Service, was 307 Oak Lane, a 4,400-square-foot house in Richmond’s Hampton Gardens that sold May 1 for $4 million – $1.25 million over its April 16 list price of $2.75 million.
EXP Realty’s Mary Gillespie had the listing, representing sellers Banks and Margaret Turner. EXP’s Michelle Pappas repped the mystery buyer, who made the purchase with an LLC.
No. 3 on the list was 205 Ampthill Road, a 5,200-square-foot house in Richmond’s Westhampton area that sold May 8 for $3.5 million, above its April 16 list price of $2.59 million. Steele Group | SIR agent Kate Wall had the listing, and Steele Group’s Carrie Robeson represented the buyer.
The Crestmere mansion built for designer Charles Gillette was May’s No. 4 sale.
Fourth on the list was Crestmere, the 4,700-square-foot mansion at 1214 Rothesay Circle built in 1916 for designer Charles Gillette. It sold May 6 for $2.93 million, above its March listing at $2.68 million. Steele Group agents Jill Davenport and Mary Davenport had the listing, while SRMF’s Rebecca Winters represented the buyer.
Rounding out the month’s top five sales was 3319 Monument Ave., a 4,200-square-foot house that sold May 12 for $2.79 million, above its April listing at $2.19 million. The house was co-listed by Steele Group’s Coleen Butler Rodriguez and Long & Foster agent Dennis Garza. SRMF’s Scott Ruth and Scott Shaheen repped the buyer.