Estate ‘with really good investing karma’ owned by Bill Ackman lists for $7.5M

Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman’s former estate in upstate New York is on the market for $7.5 million.

The activist investor, 55, picked up the 100-acre property in Chatham, NY, for $3.3 million in 2004 and spent $1.5 million renovating it (adding extras like a $150,000 movie theater, per the Wall Street Journal) before putting it on the market in 2012 for $5 million and later dropping the price to $3.9 million.

The current owner isn’t named, but the hilltop home has views of the Catskill and Berkshires mountains. Located at 445 County Route 17, it features apple orchards, a 2-acre pond and walking trails. There’s also a 75-foot-longpool, a spa and tennis courts.

The main residence spans 9,700 square feet and comes with five bedrooms and 4½ bathrooms, plus custom millwork, 25-foot ceilings in the family room with a fireplace, a formal dining room, a country chef’s kitchen and butler’s pantry and lots of light.

There’s also a wine cellar and a gym. In addition, the property boasts a three-story pool house and two garages with living/studio spaces above. The listing brokers are Katherine Jennings and Andrew Gates, of Houlihan Lawrence.

When it went on the market in 2012, Ackman told DealBreaker that the spread has “really good investing karma” and that he had come up with his best ideas there.

The founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management is back in the news for making what has been called “the greatest trade of all time” — turning $27 million into a $3.6 billion profit during 10 days in March 2020. Ackman’s net worth is currently $2 billion, according to Forbes.

Previously married to landscape architect Karen Ann Herskovitz for 25 years, he married his second wife, MIT media lab professor Neri Oxman, in 2019 after a seven-month romance.