Gene Hackman’s estate selling for $6 million less than 1 year after he and wife died there
Gene Hackman’s sprawling Santa Fe estate is being sold for more than $6 million nearly a year after the two-time Oscar winner and his wife, Besty Arakawa, were found dead at their longtime residence.
Authorities believe that Arakawa, a 65-year-old pianist, likely died around Feb. 12 from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome — typically transmitted by rodents — nearly a week before the death of her 95-year-old husband. Hackman’s cause of death was determined to be heart disease, with advanced Alzheimer’s cited as a significant contributing condition.
Their bodies weren’t discovered until Feb. 26, along with one of their three dogs.
On Thursday, agents with Sotheby’s International Realty confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that the couple’s 13,000-square-foot compound, which sits on 53 acres, was being put up for sale for $6.25 million.
Built in 1997, the six-bedroom, 10-bath home sits in the gated Santa Fe Summit community.
“We are selling the property on its virtues and all of the positives,” said agent Tara S. Earley, acknowledging that the couple’s deaths will be a dealbreaker for some buyers, though for others “that doesn’t matter.”
Those virtues include a library, gym, game room, and media room, as well as a studio and three-bedroom guesthouse. The outside highlights include a pool, hot tub and a secluded putting green with city and mountain views.
“The Hackmans embraced Santa Fe, and Santa Fe embraced them,” Earley said of the late couple, who purchased the home in the 1990s. “You would see them in town and they were not treated as celebrities.”
Hackman’s will left all of his assets and $80 million fortune to Arakawa, despite sharing three adult children with late ex-wife, Faye Maltese. Arakawa was named the successor trustee to Hackman’s living trust, but with contingent clauses for charitable trusts if she couldn’t inherit.
It’s unclear what will happen to the money from the sale of their home.