McLean Businessman Pays $8.2 million for Hickory Hill, Then Starts Total Renovation

Alan J. Dabbiere, a McLean resident who is prominent in three businesses, paid $8.2 million for Hickory Hill, one of America's best known addresses, and has now gutted it.

Joseph P. and Rose Kennedy first owned it. Then Jack and Jackie Kennedy moved in. They didn't stay very long. Then Bobby and Ethel Kennedy moved in, raised their 11 children. The address became legendary for its parties, its owners and its family.

The Washington Post reported that the house was up for sale seven years with an initial asking price of $25 million.

The new owner, Alan Dabbiere, is the chairman of AirWatch, an Atlanta company specializing in managing mobile devices. He is also the president of AJD, LLC, a privately held investment company, and serves on the board of PrimeRevenue, an Atlanta-based supply chain finance company, according to the AirWatch website.

". . . we consider that we own this property to be confidential and went to great lengths to put the ownership in a trust and protect our privacy," Dabbiere said in an e-mail to Patch. He said later in a brief phone conversation, "I have gone to great lengths not to have my name associated" with Hickory Hill.

He is quite right. The deed says Ethel Kennedy sold the property to John D. Marshall, Trustee of The Hickory Hill Trust. Marshall is the CEO of AirWatch.

Hickory Hill,  a 7,850-square-foot Georgian manor built in 1870, with a 1931 addition, sits on a 5.6-acre property. It used to contain 13 bedrooms and 10 baths, 9 fireplaces, a tennis court and pool, according to the county tax records.

Everything in the house is now gone. The interior has been gutted to the exterior walls. The living room floor appears to be scaffolding. Ladders are used to get to the second floor.

Fairfax County issued a permit  June 1  to demolish non-load bearing walls only, according to a county spokesman.

 An application for a second permit was submitted July 20 to underpin foundation of existing three story home with basement and put new slabs. . rebuild 2nd floor balcony with metal railing; raise roof of portion of existing 3rd floor doomers to create bigger guest room. . . interior alteration to existing basement to include bedroom, kitchenette, new elevator in existing shaft.

That application also called for building a three story addition with basement to include kitchen sink & 5 car garage in basement level and wetbar on 3rd floor. Build detached 2 story 3 car garage with balcony on 2nd level. The application is still pending, according to a county spokesman.

Dabbiere and his family already live just about a block from Hickory Lane. They paid $3.8 million for a five-bedroom, fiv- fireplace home on a narrow lane just off of Chain Bridge Road in 2005, according to county tax records.

Dabbiere serves on the board of trustees of the Potomac School, a private school in McLean. "Alan and his wife Ashley reside in McLean with their four children, with their oldest a second grader at Potomac," according to the Potomac website.

 The Washington Post reported that Hickory Hill has been designated a National Historic Landmark meaning that developers couldn't subdivide the land and throw up McMansions.

ORIGINAL STORY: Hickory Hill, one of the best known homes in the U.S., is undergoing massive renovations.

Hickory Hill is the former home of Ethel and Bobby Kennedy and their family, was sold for $8.2 million in 2009.

The new owners: Alan Dabbiere. Alan J. Dabbiere, is the chairman of AirWatch, a global provider of enterprise grade mobile device management solutions.

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