Couple from Another Island Buys Blue Heron Farm

Editor's Note: This story was updated on December 2nd.

The Obama's summer rental changed hands last week, leaving the First Family looking for a new estate to rent.

The 28.5-acre , summer home to the Obama family, sold last week to a newly created real estate investment corporation called Blue Sky MV LTD. The estate, officially in Chilmark, sits the Chilmark-West Tisbury town line next to the Grey Barn Farm.

The farm features a barn, pool, apple orchard and tennis courts, two full-sized homes, and a boathouse on the pond. There are extensive gardens and a basketball court the President himself, enjoyed. There is also a Pennsylvania hay barn that was transported here by builder Rick Anderson. The compound is located on waterfront on Tisbury Great Pond and includes is a 3.75 acre parcel on the Tisbury Great Pond in West Tisbury. The total room count for all the living spaces on the premises is 31 and it has a combined square footage of 13,327.

William and Mollie Van Devender of Mississippi, bought the property in 2005 for $20.35 million from the M. Anthony Fischer estate. This past September, the farm was listed for sale by Wallace & Co Sotheby’s International Realty for $23.7 million.

According to Wallace & Co President, Tom Wallace, the identity of the people behind Blue Sky MV LTD cannot be released, but he said that the buyers are, “Another lovely family coming to the Vineyard.”

Yet the owners have been identified as Lord Norman and Lady Elena Foster, an architect and arts publisher from Great Britain, according to the Vineyard Gazette.

According to Wallace, the Van Devender’s decision to sell the property was a result of their getting more oriented to the West Coast. “I don’t think they’ll stop coming to the Vineyard by any means, but the property was purchased as a family compound and right now the family is spending more time on the West Coast.”

Wallace & Co. has managed Blue Heron Farm for the Van Devenders and handled the renting of it to the Obamas for the past three summers beginning in August of 2009.

This past summer, the First Family spent almost two weeks at the compound. Nine days before their arrival, there was a due to an unattended outdoor gas cooking grill left on overnight. The heat of the grill ignited the side of the residence and the building sustained minor, exterior damage. The renters on the property at the time were able to evacuate safely and without incident.

The selling price of $21.9 million is not much higher than what the Van Devenders paid for it over six years ago. However, that price does not include all of the art, furnishings, boats and other items that the Van Devenders also sold as part of what Wallace called, “turning the page and going on to the next chapter in their lives.”

If the First Family does come back to the Island this summer, it looks like they’ll have to find a new home.

Of the new owners, Wallace thinks it is “Unlikely that they’ll want to rent.”