Private equity boss lists stunning Bay Area estate for $35M, three years after he bought it for $19M (but it cost original tycoon owner $135 MILLION to build)

One of Bay Area's most lavish properties is up for sale - for $35 million, despite being built for over $100 million dollars. 

J. Taylor Crandall's Alamo estate, Fieldhaven, is once again back on the market, just three years after the private equity founder bought it for just $19 million. 

Tech billionaire and Workday co-founder David Duffield spent three-and-a-half years and $135 million to build the almost 25,000 square feet property.  

If adjusted for inflation, the property would cost about $250 million to construct today. 

The countryside mansion boasts ten bedrooms, 22 baths, and a detached two-bedroom 1,115 square feet guesthouse with its own two bedrooms, a full kitchen and a fireplace. 

Located just 30 miles from San Francisco, the main house has stone walls, reclaimed wood beams, a slate roof, a library, and two offices, one with a terrace. 

The estate also has an aviary/bird sanctuary, a dog park and a treehouse with windows and finishes 'as nice as most houses'. 

Marilee Headen of Compass, who is co-listing the estate with Taso Tsakos of Engel & Völkers, told SFGATE that the capacious garage which can house 20 cars, was 'designed to resemble an old world barn'.

Crandall explained that the views of Mount Diablo from the property and the quality of the finishes in the house convinced him to buy to spend the cash. 

The main house has multiple antique French limestone fireplaces throughout and a custom mural is placed in the home theatre. 

The kitchen hood is hand-painted and has brick inlay and wood trim, opening up to a sunny patio. 

Other luxury amenities include a dramatic formal dining room, a living room with a wet bar, a wine cellar featuring a custom-designed iron door and tasting area, and lavish marble soaking tubs in the bathrooms.

Outside the main house, the estate has two pools, one with a waterslide (plus a cold plunge pool and hot tub) and a generous patio with a fully equipped outdoor kitchen. 

After purchasing the property, the Crandalls spent several million dollars adding a Crestron system and a solar field. 

Although the family felt at home at the Fieldhaven estate, they decided to sell the property and move to a house in nearby Diablo to be closer to their children’s schools and activities. 

The couple purchased their Diablo house for around $6 million around the same time they bought the Alamo estate, and have five other houses in other states including Utah and Massachusetts. 

In October, the median sale price in Alamo was $2.3 million, down 8.8 percent compared with October 2022, according to real-estate brokerage Redfin. 

Their move comes after a children's book author and her husband decided to sell their remote Tennessee house and move back to California. 

Stephanie Campisi, 38, and Wesley, 45, had bought a three-bedroom, three-story home for around $250,000 in eastern Tennessee during the pandemic but decided to move back to California this year. 

The couple explained that they struggled with how remote the area was.

'If we wanted to go to a zoo or a children's museum or a book shop, it would end up being a whole day trip. We had to travel an hour to get to a medical specialist, whereas here everything is a 20-minute drive so it makes a big difference,' she said.

'It affected our daily lives because we like to have access to city things. Our 4-year-old son also goes to school next year so that was a factor as well.'

There was also a boom in people relocating to Knoxville and Chattanooga at the time, Stephanie said, which meant that residents from the cities were being pushed out into smaller places nearby. 

'We saw a lot of movement and a lot of growth, but not necessarily the infrastructure to support it, so that was a big challenge for us,' she said.

The couple bought their 2,500-square-foot property sight unseen and sold it earlier this year.   

'There was a point where we decided we had to sit for two years before we could sell it and not realize the capital gains,' she said. 

'We listed the house in April and it took several months to sell as it was when the market was dropping and interest rates were increasing. 

'Property values had shot up so we sold it for 70 percent more than we bought it for, but moving back here the prices have also gone up in California, so we did not walk away with a huge sum.'