Based out of Austin, Texas, the tech mogul has snapped up two super-deluxe condominiums in New York and Boston in recent years
Michael Dell is in contract to buy a penthouse at One Dalton Square in Boston. PHOTO: JASON GROW FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Known for his lavish spreads in his hometown of Austin, Texas, and on the Big Island of Hawaii, tech mogul Michael Dell has expanded east, buying two super-deluxe high-rise homes in Boston and in New York City in recent years.
In 2014, Mr. Dell, 53, spent $100.47 million on a penthouse on New York’s Billionaire’s Row, setting a record for the city’s priciest home purchase, people familiar with the transaction said. Last year, he snapped up a penthouse seeking $40 million at the Four Seasons Private Residences One Dalton Street in Boston.
Michael Dell, founder of Dell TechnologiesPHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
The purchases significantly add to Mr. Dell’s real-estate holdings, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. Before these buys he owned two homes around his hometown of Austin, Texas, and a third retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii’s Kohala coast.
A college dropout, Mr. Dell earned his fortune by starting Dell Technologies , which makes and sells personal computers and other technology products. Most of that fortune lies in his private-investment firm MSD Capital, which was set up to manage his family’s fortune. MSD Capital’s real-estate holdings are purely for investment purposes, a person familiar with his investment strategies said, such as a home in Los Cabos, Mexico, which is on the market for $18.5 million.
Here is a snapshot of Mr. Dell’s personal properties.
A aerial view of Mr. Dell’s approximately 33,000-square-foot compound in Austin, Texas. PHOTO: PICTOMETRY
Austin
In Austin, Mr. Dell built an approximately 33,000-square-foot compound for his family. He and his wife, Susan, completed the property in 1996, according to a person familiar with the project, the same year his company launched its website Dell.com.
Mr. Dell tapped New York City firm Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects —whose founder Charles Gwathmey was best known for designing homes for the likes of Steven Spielberg and David Geffen. Juan Miro, an architect from the firm, was dispatched to Texas to oversee its completion, the person said. Gwathmey Siegel’s style is famously modernist and geometrically complicated, and Mr. Dell’s granite and stainless-steel house is no exception. It has eight bedrooms and 16 bathrooms, a home gym and an indoor lap pool. A stairwell includes polished wood panels and a bowed steel banister, which frames a sculpture by artist Joel Shapiro.
Property records show that Mr. and Mrs. Dell own several vacant lots adjacent to their property, bringing the total compound to about 119 acres. The adjacent lots all have a conservation easement, meaning they are permanently restricted from being developed. The property is a 20-mile drive from Round Rock, Texas, where Dell Technologies is based.
In 1997, Mr. Dell challenged his $600,000 property-tax bill after county assessors valued the home at $22.5 million, according to legal filings. At the time, Mr. Dell’s attorney said his client had spent about $30 million on improvements to the property. The resolution wasn’t disclosed.
In the hills about 12 miles away, Mr. Dell also owns a quirky geometric house known as 6D Ranch. Named after the six members of the family, it is where their Arabian horses are kept, according to a person familiar with the property.
The three penthouses at the Four Seasons Private Residences One Dalton Street were most recently on the market for about $40 million. PHOTO: JASON GROW FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Boston
In September 2016, Dell Technologies completed an approximately $67 billion deal to acquire EMC, a company dealing in data storage and data protection, marking what was then the largest technology merger in U.S. history. EMC would keep its operations in Hopkinton, Mass., where it is located, according to a statement from the company at the time.
In 2017, Mr. Dell inked a contract for a penthouse at the Four Seasons Private Residences One Dalton Street, according to people familiar with the transaction.
The tower will be Boston’s tallest residential building when it is completed next year. The unit is one of three penthouses and was most recently on the market for about $40 million. The building’s three penthouses have soaring ceilings and double-height terraces with outdoor fireplaces, according to the project’s website.
Mr. Dell quietly purchased a $100.47 million penthouse at New York’s One57 tower in 2014. PHOTO: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
New York
Mr. Dell’s $100.47 million purchase at One57, the more than 1,000-foot condo tower on Manhattan’s West 57th street, set the record for the most expensive home ever sold in New York City. His aerie totals 10,923 square feet, with six bedrooms and six bathrooms, according to an offering plan for the project. The building’s glassy units have sprawling views of Central Park.
Luxury agents say building’s reputation as the pinnacle of prestige has faded. “When he bought it, it was the symbol of success for supertalls,” said New York appraiser Jonathan Miller. “Since then, it’s been mired in a lot of negative stories about unsold units and new competition from other projects.” A buyer who paid $32 million for an apartment at One57 in 2014 sold it for $23.5 million in 2016, public records show.
A bird’s eye view of Mr. Dell’s Hawaii estate, which is known as the Raptor Residence. PHOTO: PICTOMETRY
Hawaii
MSD Capital has been a major investor in Hawaii since 2004, when it bought the Four Seasons Maui. In partnership with former Walmart chairman Rob Walton, it also owns the entirety of Hualalai, a master-planned residential community on the Big Island surrounding the highly rated Four Seasons there.
Mr. Dell’s personal home is located in the nearby, exclusive residential community of Kukio. Unlike other Hawaiian coastal communities, Kukio is accessible only to homeowners and their guests. Visitors need permission of a homeowner to enter. A clubhouse in the community fronts Hawaiian fish ponds and an archaeological reserve, with views of the island of Maui, according to the community’s website.
Mr. Dell’s home appears to be the largest in the community at 18,500 square feet and with seven bedrooms, according to plans. People call the property Raptor Residence, as Mr. Dell purchased it in under a limited-liability company of that name.
