Tull buys house in Edgeworth
$15 million home has nine bedrooms and ski slope with snowmaking capabilities
Thomas Tull, a part owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers who is building a state-of-the-art organic farm and dairy in Washington County, has added to his real estate holdings in Western Pennsylvania.
On Friday, Mr. Tull and his wife, Alba, purchased 445 Woodland Road in Edgeworth from fellow entrepreneur and tech giant Glen Meakem and his wife, Diane, for $15 million. In 2007, the Meakems built the 14,474-squarefoot house with nine bedrooms, five fireplaces, five full baths, four powder rooms and a mini ski slope with snowmaking capabilities.
Five years earlier, the Meakems demolished a much older house on the site, the Thomas Leet Shields House, which was built in 1854 by one of the Sewickley Valley’s founding families. They paid a total of $2.1 million for the historic house, a barn, an old three-bedroom cottage and an adjoining brick house. All were torn down to make way for the new house.
The Tulls’ latest purchase comes less than a year after they paid $3.65 million for a 157-acre
farm in Robinson, Washington County, that will raise at least 40 dairy cows and organically grown lettuce, tomatoes and apples.
The Tulls also own Muottas, a historic house not far from their new house. In 2015-16, the Tulls paid a total of $7 million for the 111-year-old stone house and 115 acres in Edgeworth, Leetsdale and Leet.
In December 2015, Mr. Tull created an uproar when he applied for a permit to demolish the historic house and build a new house on that site. A month later, he decided instead to move Muottas to another part of the tract. Last fall, Millcraft Development Services moved the historic house intact and built a new access road for it. That property will be listed for sale soon, according to a Tull family spokesperson.
The Tulls, who also own a $5.2 million penthouse in Three PNC Plaza, Downtown, halted construction of the new Sewickley Valley house in the fall because it would have taken too long to build. They wanted a turnkey property there and the Meakem home fit their criteria.
“The property’s location, grounds and beautiful community provide an ideal home for my family’s time in Pittsburgh,” Mr. Tull said through the spokesperson Monday.
“It’s no secret that Pittsburgh is Thomas’ favorite city and there are a lot of reasons for them to have a home base there. Between the farm, the Steelers, the growing tech community and Thomas’ position on Carnegie Mellon’s board of trustees, it makes sense,” the spokesperson said.
The Meakems also are bullish on Pittsburgh.
“We sold our home to Thomas and Alba Tull last week and are pleased to welcome them to the Sewickley community,” Mr. Meakem said Monday. “My wife and I love Pittsburgh and we will continue living and working in the area.”
The 10-acre property they sold to the Tulls includes a tennis court and a 20-foot ski hill built from dirt dug on the property during construction.
In January, Mr. Tull resigned as chairman and CEO of Legendary Entertainment, the company that filmed the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises” in Pittsburgh. He sold the studio to the Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group for a reported $3.5 billion in 2016.
Mr. Tull also owns 50 acres adjacent to Walker Park on Little Sewickley Creek Road and has built a processing plant for honey and the sap used to make maple syrup. Between 30 and 40 beehives are set up on the property and more than 300 maple trees in Edgeworth are tapped into tubing to collect sap. Mr. Tull’s partner on that enterprise and the Washington County farm is Chris Hoke, a retired Steeler.
Joe Zemba, a real estate agent with Prudential Preferred Realty and former president of the Sewickley Valley Historical Society, said he’s glad that Muottas did not suffer the same fate as the Thomas Leet Shields House.
“It’s wonderful that the house was moved and preserved. But, in hindsight, it’s quite a shame that it was disturbed at all for apparently no reason,” he said.