Oprah sells Orcas Island estate for $14 million

Oprah Winfrey has sold her 43-acre waterfront estate known as Madroneagle on Orcas Island’s Catspaw Lane for $14 million, the Business Journal has learned.

Sources familiar with the deal say it is the highest price ever paid for an Orcas Island property.

Winfrey, who bought the property in 2018 without personally visiting it, paid $8.3 million at the time. The property first went on the market two years earlier at $12 million but failed to sell at that price.

The Catspaw Lane property is a gated island sanctuary that includes a 10,251-square-foot main mansion, essentially gutted by Winfrey in a remodel. The property includes several other houses, a half-mile of waterfront and beach, a greenhouse, a huge shop and a mother-in-law apartment.

Coldwell Banker Bain broker and Vice President of Global Luxury Jen Cameron represented the buyer, listed as Lophodytes LLC. She says the property was not formally listed, but the buyer heard rumors that Winfrey might be interested in selling Madroneagle, so they approached Bob Greene, Winfrey’s fitness guru and property manager who originally scouted this property. And Winfrey was amenable to selling.

Windermere broker Wally Gudgell, from Orcas Island, represented Winfrey in the sale. Gudgell, who has been a broker for 44 years on Orcas Island, had the original listing of the property when Winfrey bought it, dealing directly through Greene.

While Gudgell is tight-lipped about the sale, he said, “They just figured she’s too busy and never going to really use it, and that’s why they were willing to sell it.”

But Winfrey and Greene will remain as major landlords on Orcas Island.