Former Washington Commanders Owner Donates Potomac Mansion

The former owner of the Washington Commanders finally ditched his Potomac mansion. He just couldn’t sell it.

Daniel and Tanya Snyder donated their estate at 11900 River Road in the Maryland community to the American Cancer Society, the Washington Business Journal reported. Property records show a $0 transfer of the property several weeks ago.

Zero dollars is a rather stunning departure for the Snyders, who listed the 15-acre estate last February for $49 million. If it fetched that price, it would’ve set a record for the Greater Washington area, a record the sellers already held for their $48 million purchase in Mount Vernon.

They purchased the estate from Jordan’s King Hussein and Queen Noor for $8.6 million in July 2000 before buying and adding six additional parcels. By August, the $49 million ask dropped to $34.9 million.

But the estate and its 30,000-square-foot French chateau-inspired main house sat on the market for 13 months without any buyers.

The American Cancer Society isn’t planning to use the estate and its commercial-grade kitchen, breakfast solarium, gym, spa lounge, library, wine cellar, club room and home movie theater — instead, it will look to sell what it called a “transformative gift” to fund cancer research, direct patient support and lobbying efforts for policies that improve cancer care access.

Snyder may be able to claim a charitable deduction on a sale, which would top out around a third of the appraised value.

Last year, Snyder sold the Washington Commanders to a group led by Josh Harris for more than $6 billion.

Washington Fine Properties’ Daryl Judy told the Washingtonian that the Snyders’ controversial past in the nation’s capital likely won’t have an impact on any future sale.

— Holden Walter-Warner