Beverly Park manse sells for $25 million

A son of notorious Indonesian dictator rumored to have built the home

Miryam & Bob Knutson with Beverly Park (Credit: Yolanda's Little Black Book)
Miryam & Bob Knutson with Beverly Park (Credit: Yolanda's Little Black Book)

A 14,000-square-foot Beverly Park manse with potential ties to one of the most corrupt leaders of the 20th century has changed hands.

The Tuscan-style mansion sold in an off-market deal for $25 million to Robert and Miryam Knutson, a couple from Pittsburgh that made their millions from a for-profit education company they ran for decades, according to Yolanda’s Little Black Book, a real estate blog.

The house sits on 3.6 acres and includes a six-car garage, tennis court, and a guest house. It was built in 1995 by a family member of notorious Indonesian dictator Muhammad Suharto, Yolanda said. Suharto allegedly embezzled as much as $35 billion over the course of three decades in power. The builder could have been Suharto’s son Bambang Trihatmodjo, who was active in the neighborhood during the period when it was built.

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Robert Knutson became president of Education Management Corporation, the umbrella corporation of the Art Institutes’ system of arts schools, in the 1970s, and became chairman and CEO in 1984. Miryam Knutson joined in the 1980s and became president and chief operating officer in 1989. Robert Knutson took the company public in 1996. It was acquired and sold a few times in the late 2000s amid allegations the company misled students.

Whether they did or not, the Knutsons walked away with around $132.4 million from selling stocks before 2010.

They’re downsizing from four other properties around the country, including a nearly 200-acre estate outside Pittsburgh, according to Yolanda’s Little Black Book. [Yolanda’s Little Black Book] – Dennis Lynch