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McClendon’s island home set to be sold

Winsor House: the stunning clifftop mansion in Tucker's Town which is set to snapped up by a new owner (Photograph by Sinclair Realty)

A luxury home in exclusive Tucker’s Town with a list price of more than $13.9 million owned by the widow of a late billionaire oil and gas tycoon is set to be sold.

Winsor House, set on a cliffside estate, is owned by Katie McClendon, an heiress of the Whirlpool appliances family and the wife of former Chesapeake Energy Corporation chief Aubrey McClendon, who was killed in a car crash earlier this year,

Sinclair Realty, which is selling the home, confirmed yesterday that the property was under contract.

But — despite its huge price tag — the house will need major renovations or demolished and replaced with a new-build house.

Ms Sinclair said: “While good news and a vote of confidence for Bermuda, Winsor House is actually just one of several non-Bermudian sales in 2016 pending completion which demonstrate the island’s attractiveness to the discerning international homebuyer.”

She added: “Subject to planning and environment approvals, a purchaser could work with the existing footprint, but the condition of the existing structures are such that either a total renovation or a tear down, redesign or rebuild would be required.”

The McClendons bought the six-bedroom home, set in 1.26 acres of grounds for $11 million five years ago.

Sinclair Realty said on its website: “As waterfront building lots in the coveted Tucker’s Town peninsula simply do not exist — and Bermuda Government policy restricts non-Bermudian purchasers from acquiring vacant land — Winsor House represents an extremely rare opportunity to own a world-class beachfront home site ...”

It added: “This is literally one of the very best beachfront settings in Bermuda.”

The main house has an annual rental value of $216,000, while the apartment’s ARV is $33,600.

The grounds also contain a two-level guest cottage and two-level garage.

Mr McClendon, 56, founder of Chesapeake Energy Corporation, died when his SUV hit a bridge embankment in Oklahoma City in March.

The crash came a day after he was charged with rigging bids for oil and natural gas leases in Oklahoma.

It was feared at first that the death was suicide — but a medical examiner later ruled that the death was accidental.

Mr McLendon founded Chesapeake Energy in 1989 and at one point the firm was valued at $35 billion, with Mr McClendon’s personal wealth estimated at $1 billion.

In addition to buying several Bermuda properties, Mr McLendon held a stake in basketball team Oklahoma City Thunder.

But he left Chesapeake Energy in 2013 amid a governance scandal which led to a shareholder revolt and cost him his annual bonus and chairmanship in 2012.

He was charged in March by a federal grand jury in Oklahoma in connection with an alleged scheme involving two “large oil and gas companies” to not bid against each other for leases in the northwest of the state.

The scheme was said to have operated between 2007 and 2012.

Mr McClendon denied the charges and said they were “wrong and unprecedented.”

He died in the car crash the next day.

If convicted, he would have faced up to ten years in jail and a $1 million fine.