Howard Lutnick Finds DC Home Ahead of Trump Inauguration

Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick still needs confirmation before becoming Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, but that’s not stopping him from shopping Washington, D.C.’s real estate market.

Lutnick is in contract to purchase 2400 Foxhall Road NW from another prominent name, Fox News anchor Bret Baier, the Wall Street Journal reported. The deal is expected to close this week.

Baier and his wife Amy put the French Château-style house up for sale last year, asking $31.9 million. The most recent asking price is $29 million, which would break down to $1,785 per square foot. A sale at that price would break the 17-year-old record for a residential deal in the nation’s capital, a $24 million transaction in Georgetown.

The Baiers paid only $5.4 million for the property in 2018, but spent the intervening years building a 16,000-square-foot home on the one-and-a-half acre property. They spent nearly $25 million on the project.

Features of the home include a marble fountain, a temperature-controlled wine room, a game room, a putting green and an indoor sports court. The four-story home has five bedrooms and eight bathrooms.

Daniel Heider of Sotheby’s International Realty has the listing.

Residential brokers in D.C. have been preparing for an influx of well-heeled government officials as Trump prepares to return to the presidency next month. While there’s plenty of wheeling and dealing in the nation’s capital every time an administration turns over, the Trump administration brings a new cohort of wealthy industry titans to town.

Lutnick owns a number of homes, including a penthouse on the Upper East Side and an estate in the Hamptons.

The Baiers, meanwhile, moved on to Palm Beach last year, dropping $37 million on a non-waterfront house at 125 Wells Road in an off-market deal. Shortly after, they sold a smaller home on the island for $13.5 million.
— Holden Walter-Warner