The beautiful Waimanalo beach front property the Pahonu, made famous as the “Robin’s Egg” on the popular 1980s TV series Magnum PI, was sold on Monday for $8.7 million. The contact for the purchase was listed as an Obama donor, Chicago attorney and Obama friend Seth Madorsky, and the deed and mortgage were signed by former Obama fundraiser Judy Grimanis.
Grimanis works as an executive assistant for the Vistris Group, a Chicago-based private equity firm run by one of the president’s golf partners Marty Nesbitt.
None of the documents mention the president by name, and the White House declined to comment on the report by Fox affiliate KHON.
Pahonu is a three-acre beachfront property built in 1933. It has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a gatehouse, a boat house, a tennis court, a mens bath and womens bath, 500 feet of beachfront and a turtle pond, according to Zillow.
The prospect of the president and his family moving to the Honolulu suburb has some residents shaking their heads.
“He’s going to be protected by the Secret Service all the time; there will be all kinds of traffic woes,” resident Uncle Nawai told KITV.
Others are thrilled with the possibility.
“People on the beach here think it’s Obama, and some people like me are thrilled at the prospect,” resident Lee Siegel told KHON. “It’s wonderful. My dog there can’t wait to play with Bo.”
A senior administration official would not comment directly on the Obamas’ possible purchase of a home in Hawaii, telling POLITICO only, “The president is not a party to this transaction.”
The purchase of a post-presidential home is often shrouded in secrecy, and past presidents have often had close friends handle the paperwork, as was the case when George W. and Laura Bush purchased their Dallas, Texas home through longtime friend and personal accountant Robert McCleskey.
