By Katherine Clarke
THE DEAL: Billionaire investor Joshua Harris, the owner of the Washington Commanders NFL team, and his wife, Marjorie Harris, have paid a $28 million for a storied Washington, D.C., landmark with plans to return it to its original use as a single-family home, a spokesman for Harris confirmed. The sale is a record for the city.
THE SPECS: Known as Halcyon House, the Federal-style building in Georgetown dates to the late 1700s. The roughly 30,000-square-foot house, which has a large garden with a pool in the back, wasn't publicly listed at the time of the sale, and the deal happened quietly off-market, according to local agents.
THE SELLER: The seller was Sachiko Kuno, a Japanese-born scientist who made her fortune co-founding pharmaceutical firms with former husband and business partner Dr. Ryuji Ueno. Kuno and Ueno paid $11 million for the property in 2011, records show.
In recent years, Kuno used the redbrick building as a headquarters for a nonprofit accelerator program designed to help develop social-impact ventures. "I'm grateful to have been a steward of such a special property for 15 years, and for it to have done so much good for entrepreneurs," Kuno said in a statement.
THE BUYER: Harris is perhaps best known as the co-founder of private-equity firm Apollo Global Management. He is also the founder of investment firm 26North Partners. Another of Harris's companies owns the Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL's New Jersey Devils.
A spokesman for Harris said he grew up in D.C. and spends a lot of time there, given his ownership of the Commanders. He said Harris and his wife have plans to restore the building, turning it into a single-family home while preserving its historical significance. He said their primary residence will continue to be in Miami, where property records show they own a home on upscale North Bay Road.
Harris has a taste for high-end real estate -- and an appetite for repurposing historic buildings. In 2017, he bought the storied 21,000-square-foot Dommerich Mansion in New York City for $52 million. At the time, the property had most recently been occupied by the Center for Specialty Care, an outpatient facility for plastic surgery. He returned it to its original use as a single-family home.
THE HISTORY: The Georgetown home was built for Benjamin Stoddert, the first Secretary of the Navy. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1971.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD: Georgetown has long been home to notable names from politics, art and business. Venture capitalist Mark Ein owns a property there that was once owned by Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent paid $12.5 million for a historic mansion in the neighborhood. Days after his Senate confirmation in January 2025.
THE MARKET: The previous record for D.C. was set in 2024, when Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick purchased Fox News anchor Bret Baier's Foxhall estate for $25 million.
Mark and Hunter McFadden of Compass represented Dr. Kuno in the Georgetown sale. Harris was represented by Daniel Heider of TTR Sotheby's International Realty.
Write to Katherine Clarke at Katherine.Clarke@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 15, 2026 16:00 ET (21:00 GMT)
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