Headline homes: Nashville's top sales, February 2011

Take a drive on Interstate 40 and head east — past Donelson, then Mt. Juliet, then Lebanon. Take exit 273 — Smithville Highway to the folks out there — and drive a piece along the banks of Center Hill Lake.

There, on the perfectly named Lakeshore Drive in the tiny burgh of Silver Point, is one of the more surprising entrants in the history of Headline Homes. A sprawling lakeside mansion — more bed-and-breakfast than home — is No. 2 on our monthly list. It’s Dekalb County’s first-ever appearance on this august inventory.

The buyers — wealthy by way of motorized wheelchairs — join the usual suspects of strivers, doctors, power-playing attorneys, a former athlete turned former coach and Nashville’s Prince of Pasta on this month’s look at the 10 largest single-family home transactions recorded in Davidson and neighboring counties in February, ranked by dollar value:

1. 4415 Peytona Lane, Franklin 37064
Buyers: John F. & Kim L. Hunt
Sale price: $1.925 million
Sellers: Ronald G. & Patricia T. Hughes
Sellers’ agent: Brian D. Casteel (Century 21 Premier)
Buyers’ agent: Penny Tenpenny (Keller Williams)

What’s a $2 million home without a well on site? The Hunts will never know. They bought this sprawling 8,600-square-footer, sitting on 18 acres in Franklin, last month, earning the top spot on the February list. The well is nice, of course, but it isn’t the draw. The two-story home was built by seller Hughes — a builder — just last year and features his-and-her bathrooms in addition to the full set of rooms included in the special edition of “Clue”: a library, a theater, a billiard room and the like.

The house — of which the Hunts will be the first occupants — was on the market just 18 days, having been listed at $2.4 million. The Hughes bought the property in 2007 for $250,000. Looks like a savvy investment.

2. 375 Lakeshore Drive, Silver Point 38582
Buyers: Kirk & Andrea Caskey
Sale price: $1.8 million
Seller: Douglas C. Altenbern
Seller’s agent: Zeitlin Auction Registry & Realty
Buyers’ agent: None listed

Dekalb County makes its Headline Homes debut with a big splash: This massive home — called “Tennessee Top Ridge” — on Center Hill Lake sleeps as many as 24 people in its seven bedrooms. Mr. Caskey heads up Cookeville-based Allied Home Medical, a provider of medical mobility devices. Altenbern is a Nashville-based urologist.

There’s no dock — unusual for this part of the world — but the sloping lot does afford “fantastic lake views.” The home was sold fully furnished in a design by tony Nashville interior designers Lannie Neal and Sally Henderson, whose piece de resistance is the five-foot by six-foot Montana elk chandelier in the foyer.

3. 2016 Sunset Hills Terrace, Forest Hills 37215
Buyers: Brian & Kristin O’Shaughnessy
Sale price: $1.585 million
Sellers: Gary Hyams & Angela P. Greeley
Sellers’ agent: Richard B. French (French Christianson Patterson)
Buyers’ agent: Yvonne Kelly (Zeitlin & Co.)

The rarest of rares in Forest Hills: a level lot. But doubtful that’s all that attracted the O’Shaughnessys (he’s a spinal surgeon at Howell Allen, she’s a plastic surgeon). Perhaps it was the marble and tile floors throughout the 6,362-square-foot home, or the terraced gardens at the rear of the property. The home, with its nearly floor-to-ceiling glass entrance, also includes a pool, a wine closet and two offices — no doubt a help for the Doctors O’Shaugnessy.

The house (pictured above) spent 197 days on the market, but didn’t come down too much — relatively — from its $1.895 million list. Hyams, who in January left his post as CEO of cigar maker CAO, and Greeley bought the home in April 2008, when it made that month’s edition of Headline Homes, coming in at No. 3.

4. 708 Brass Lantern Place, Brentwood 37027
Buyers: 708 Brass Lantern Place Trust
Sale price: $1.525 million
Seller: Pacific Coast Properties LLC
Sellers’ and buyers’ agent: Laura Baugh (Worth Properties)

An enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in a trust: Pacific Coast Properties, which picked up this home in a quitclaim from one of its principals in 2008, sold the 7,200-square-foot property to the anonymous-as-possible 708 Brass Lantern Place Trust. Whoever is behind the trust — props to trustee Charles Reasor for offering no hints in all the requisite filings — will be living in a new home with 12-foot ceilings, walk-in closets and all the other accoutrements one would expect.

It was no easy task for Pacific Coast to offload this one — it spent 145 days on the market — but our nameless buyer was willing to pay almost-sticker, with a sale price just $224,000 off the list.

5. 100 McArthur Ridge Court, Nashville 37220
Buyers: Samuel & Brigitte Demayer Saks
Sale price: $1.5 million
Sellers: James & Nancy Culver
Sellers’ agent: Beth Molteni (Worth Properties)
Buyers’ agent: Linda Hirsch (Zeitlin & Co.)

It’s appropriate, in its way, that this palazzo-esque home includes a recording studio. Brigitte Saks is an Americana singer-songwriter of some renown who performs under her maiden name. Husband Samuel is the former CEO of San Diego-based Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

In addition to the recording studio, the 7,000-square-footer’s 14 rooms include a host of Mediterranean touches, which should easy the homesickness of the relocating San Diegans.

6. 34 Lynwood Lane, Belle Meade 37205
Buyers: John K. & Carey C. Aron
Sale price: $1.45 million
Sellers: Gerald & Catherine Sheridan
Sellers’ agent: Richard B. French (French Christianson Patterson)
Buyers’ agent: Holly Conner Sharp (BrokerSouth)

Despite the economic downturn, the pasta-exporting business is doing just fine, thank you very much, as shown by the purchase of this three-year-old Belle Meade spread by The Pasta Shoppe president John Aron. Seller Sheridan is a builder who used the Lynwood home as his personal residence. After six months on the market, Sheridan came down nearly $500,000 on the price, as he and wife Catherine are heading for sunnier Florida climes.

7. 414 W. Brookfield Drive, Belle Meade 37205
Buyers: John E. & Melissa Beasley
Sale price: $1.293 million
Sellers: James R. & Dara Russell Dickson
Sellers’ agents: Barbara Keith Payne & Dana Griscom (Pilkerton Realtors)
Buyers’ agent: Christy Gentry Lampley (Brentview Realty)

Yet another one of those stately, late-1940s super-sized ranch homes in Belle Meade moves, this time after 229 days on the market and $400,000 off the original ask. It’s the second appearance for 414 West Brookfield on the Headline Homes list: The Dicksons’ buy made the Top 10 in January 2008. They paid a handsome $1.9 million for it then. The 63-year-old, 5,700-square-foot house has all those Belle Meade requisites: a pool, a Florida room, a gallery and a 1.5-acre yard.

8 (tie). 1212 Waterstone Blvd., Franklin 37069
Buyer: Jane Kittrell
Sale price: $1.2 million
Sellers: Marcus A. & Holly Robertson
Sellers’ and buyer’s agent: Mary Suto (Crye-Leike)

Former Titans safety Marcus Robertson offloaded this home. It’s no doubt related to his dismissal as the team’s secondary coach in the post-Fisher shuffle, but to be fair, the home had been on the market for a whopping 507 days when it sold in late February. Robertson’s next career move is unclear, but he and wife Holly sold their home for $200,000 less than they paid in 2001.

8 (tie). 308 Granny White Pike, Brentwood 37027
Buyers: William & Charity McConnell
Sale price: $1.2 million
Seller: Joel Cherry
Seller’s agents: Judy & Richard Williams (Crye-Leike)
Buyers’ agent: Mary Sue Dietrich (Worth Properties)

Cherry is a vice president and general counsel at Tractor Supply. Charity McConnell is a Franklin dermatologist.

8 (tie): 8 Annandale, Nashville 37215
Buyer: Unknown
Sale Price: $1.2 million
Sellers: Brian & Kristen Coulter
Sellers’ agent: Donnie Creighton (Zeitlin & Co.)
Buyer's agent: Michael Sohr (Keller Williams)

It’s unclear to whom the Coulters — Brian heads an eponymous Brentwood consultancy firm — sold their Otter Wood home (the deed hadn’t been recorded as of press time) but whomever grabbed it got 8,300-square-feet, a pool and gazebo, a balustraded driveway — and didn’t even have to keep the pink curtains in the kids room, which the listing assured us the Coulters would be taking with them.

Check out Our Headline Homes page [2] for an ongoing chronicle of life at the apex of the local real estate market going back to the beginning of 2008. And be sure to sent tips to jrlind@nashvillecitypaper.com [3].