Unless there is more than one John Joseph Legere who can pay cash for the record $22 million purchase of a St. Johns County oceanfront home, the former CEO of T-Mobile US Inc. is the buyer of the Ponte Vedra Beach house that sold Jan. 31.
Christopher and Letitia Aitken of Jacksonville Beach sold the home – furnished – to Michael Dreyer, as trustee of 349PVB Trust Agreement.
While Christopher Aitken said the buyer asked to remain anonymous, people were wondering who bought the home at 349 Ponte Vedra Blvd.
Legere’s name was confirmed through public records.
Utility records show that John Joseph Legere started power and water service at the property, at 349 Ponte Vedra Blvd., in early February.
JEA records show John Legere started water and wastewater service Feb. 3, 2024. Beaches Energy says John Joseph Legere began electric service Feb. 1, 2024.
Again, if it is the same person, Legere, now 65, stepped down as CEO of T-Mobile in May 2020 after more than seven years of heading up the mobile service provider, according to BusinessInsider.com in November 2019.
In the same report, BusinessInsider.com cited The Wall Street Journal that Legere recently sold his historic $17.5 million Manhattan penthouse to billionaire fashion designer Giorgio Armani.
That’s when Legere bought a home in Naples, in Collier County in Southwest Florida.
Legere paid $16.7 million for the Naples property Oct. 15, 2019, according to Collier County records. He owned it for fewer than four years.
Collier County records show he sold it Feb. 23, 2023, for $46.8 million. On that deed, Legere listed his address as 43 W. 64th St., Apt. 14A, which is a penthouse in New York City.
The Ponte Vedra Beach house
The Aitkens bought the Ponte Vedra Beach property in 2013 for $3.15 million. A 50-year-old house was torn down and a new one was built in 2017.
Aitken said Feb. 1 the house took three years to engineer, design, permit and build, but he declined to say how much it cost to develop.
The 8,293-square-foot structure sits on 0.37 acres. It has five bedrooms and eight bathrooms.
There is a large pool and spa, a water feature at the front entrance, a dune walkover to the beach, four balconies, two open patios, two lanais and two two-car garages. The house is fully computerized.
The house includes a 700-bottle, commercial-grade wine cellar, solid core Italian doors and custom hardware, electric shades throughout, a 100-inch TV and surround sound in the media room, a 96-inch linear vented gas fireplace and an office facing the ocean.
“We thought we would never get our money out of it when we sold but we ultimately did,” Aitken said.
Aitken is the managing director at UBS and Sanctuary Private Wealth in Ponte Vedra Beach.
He said that with their five children out of the house, it was too big for just the two of them. They wanted to downsize.
Negotiating the sale
They did not list the home. Instead, they spoke with a friend, Kim Martin-Fisher of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
“We told her that we didn’t want to list it. However, if someone came along who appreciated the house we might consider selling,” he said.
Jennifer Martin Faulkner also represented the sellers.
Sharon Qualls of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices represented the buyer.
The architect was Cronk Duch Architecture and Planning. The builder was Coastal Construction and Consulting. Julie Schulte of Schulte Design Associates created the interior furnishing scheme.
Aitken retained Coastal Construction and Consulting for regular maintenance on the house.
The Wall Street Journal featured the sale Feb. 1.
“Spanning just under half an acre, the property has 115 feet of ocean frontage and a roughly 8,900-square-foot, five-bedroom home, according to the sellers’ agents, Kim Martin-Fisher of Douglas Elliman and her daughter and colleague, Jennifer Martin Faulkner,” reported WSJ.com.
It said the buyer was represented by Sharon Qualls of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, according to Zillow.
“The small community typically attracts wealthy buyers from the Northeast, the agents said,” the news site reported.
