Cronkite’s Summer Home Under Contract

Original Post: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/24/realestate/24Deal2.html?ref=realestate

By SARAH KERSHAW


Published: October 21, 2010

Picture Courtesy of Sotheby's

Walter Cronkite’s six-bedroom home in Edgartown, Mass.

WALTER CRONKITE was a summer fixture in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard, often spotted taking the Clintons and other political bigwigs out sailing in his 60-foot yacht Wyntje. Now the summer home of Mr. Cronkite, the CBS news anchor known as “the most trusted man in America,” who died last year at the age of 92, has gone into contract, according to brokers on both sides of the deal.

Jason Szenes/European Pressphoto Agency

Walter Cronkite in 2006.

Because the listing, with an asking price of $12.25 million, is in contract, the broker representing Mr. Cronkite’s estate, Ann Heron of Wallace & Company Sotheby’s International Realty in Edgartown, said she could not identify the interested parties. But she did dispel one rumor that’s been flying around the island lately: that Lady Gaga was the buyer.

“The buyer sure didn’t look like Lady Gaga to me,” Ms. Heron said.

The six-bedroom four-and-a-half-bath waterfront colonial has its own pier — where Mr. Cronkite docked his yacht — as well as 4,330 square feet of space. Built in 1929, the house is set on a hill, with a towering white chimney and flagpole that became integral features of the harbor’s landscape. Sharon Smith Purdy of Sandpiper Realty in Edgartown is representing the buyers.

E-mail: bigdeal@nytimes.com