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Real Estate

The CEO of the Four Seasons hotel chain is selling his Moore Park house

By Steve Kupferman
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The CEO of the Four Seasons hotel chain is selling his Moore Park house
87 Harper Avenue. Image from Google Street View

Where does the CEO of the Four Seasons hotel chain lay his head when he’s not staying at one of his company’s many properties around the world? At his relatively unprepossessing home on Harper Avenue, in Moore Park.

But he likely won’t own the place for much longer: last week, it went on the market for $4.9 million.

J. Allen Smith was appointed CEO of the Four Seasons (which was founded in Toronto and is still headquartered here) in 2013, after more than 25 years at Prudential Real Estate Investors, including almost six years as CEO. His wife, Katherine Megrue-Smith, is an artist.

The property has a tragic backstory. In 2007, a suspected gas explosion next door killed a woman and damaged houses on either side. After the conflagration, the previous owners of 87 Harper tore down their damaged home and built this one in its place. Smith and his wife closed on the property a few years later, in 2016, for $3.7 million. Through his agent, Penny Brown of Sotheby’s, Smith declined to comment on the house.

The design, by Wanye Swadron, is luxurious. The kitchen has marble countertops and an attached sunroom with space for a breakfast table. The family room has coffered ceilings and a fireplace surrounded by built-in bookshelves. The second-floor master bathroom is anchored by a central soaker tub, set beside a Juliet balcony. There are no prying eyes to hide from, because the back of the house faces the Moore Park Ravine.

The Hunt

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