Mystery seller offers up a Houston mansion for $18M in River Oaks

Broker touts ‘privacy’ of Inverness Drive home over ‘higher-profile’ properties on River Oaks Boulevard

Nan and Co. Properties' Nancy Almodovar and 3920 Inverness Drive in River Oaks (Turnkey Visual LLC)
Nan and Co. Properties' Nancy Almodovar and 3920 Inverness Drive in River Oaks (Turnkey Visual LLC)

A Houston mansion inspired by France’s historic chateaux was just listed for $17.9 million.

The 11,248 square-foot mansion with six bedrooms, seven full bathrooms and three half bathrooms is located at 3920 Inverness Drive in River Oaks, arguably Houston’s most exclusive and priciest neighborhood.

The 1.7-acre property has only had two other owners, one of which was Jenard M. Gross, a prolific and influential Houston multifamily developer, who once headed the National Apartment Association, according to the Harris County Appraisal District records.

3920 Inverness Drive in River Oaks (Turnkey Visual LLC)

3920 Inverness Drive in River Oaks (Turnkey Visual LLC)

The current seller wishes to remain anonymous, Nancy Almodovar, the Houston real estate agent handling the sale, told The Real Deal.

Almodovar’s Nan and Co. Properties is affiliated with Christie’s and recently sold a 21,500-square-foot home on a one-acre lot in River Oaks for $16 million less than a month after it hit the market.

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That property was once owned by the self-proclaimed Baron Enrico di Portanova, a River Oaks socialite. Portanova was the grandson of Hugh Roy Cullen, a storied Houston oilman and wildcatter.

3920 Inverness Drive in River Oaks (Turnkey Visual LLC)

3920 Inverness Drive in River Oaks (Turnkey Visual LLC)

“The Inverness property is not as high-profile as the properties on River Oaks Boulevard but some consider it more desirable because that part of the neighborhood offers more privacy and they are just as big as the properties on River Oaks Boulevard,” Almodovar said.

As of Jan. 1, Harris County appraised the property on Inverness Drive at $9.6 million. In 2021, the estate had a $160,972 property tax bil, per county records.

High-profile Houston trial attorney Tony Buzbee, who is representing clients suing former Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson for sexual misconduct, listed his River Oaks Boulevard mansion for in February for $27.5 million, which would be a record if it meets its ask.

But that price pales in comparison to another property in Houston’s Hunter’s Creek Village neighborhood that was listed for $60 million in May.