Look at this fantasy palace - with waterpark and scuba tunnel - a Biden speechwriter built in KC

[highplainsdem]

Last edited Mon Jul 10, 2023, 01:17 PM - Edit history (2)

EDIT - The man who built this house, Dennis Langley, was a staffer and speechwriter for Joe Biden when he was in the Senate, and later Kansas State Democratic Party Chairman. See the additional video and excerpt from his obituary that I'm adding at the end of this OP.

I posted about this in a reply in another thread - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10181849962#post6 - but I decided it deserved a topic of its own.

This is one unique home. It reportedly cost $30 million to build, failed to sell even at $11 million, was finally auctioned with no reserve and got only a few million. The cost of maintaining the scuba tunnel under the house, and waterpark with tall waterfall, probably scared off a lot of potential buyers.

EDITING A SECOND TIME, in the middle of the original OP, to add a highlight video that shows off the property better than the other videos:

Lots of photos and video here:
https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/kansas-most-expensive-home-wild-water-park/

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5225-Renner-Rd-Lake-Quivira-KS-66217/75554590_zpid/

This is in Lake Quivira, a gated community, a very nice suburb of Kansas City KS.

EDITING to add a longer video about the house, from which I learned that it was built by a former Biden staffer and speechwriter, and an excerpt from his obituary.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/kansascity/name/dennis-langley-obituary?id=4512553

After his graduation from law school, Dennis became a staff member for the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary committee and the chief speechwriter for senator Joe Biden. Dennis became a friend and advisor to many Senators and House Members during his time on Capitol Hill. In Hutchinson, Dennis built a home with his wife Judy and opened a law practice. Soon, an opportunity presented to purchase a natural gas pipeline. Dennis served as founder and CEO of the Kansas Pipeline Operating Company. During this time, the first female Governor of Kansas Joan Finney was elected and asked Dennis to be State Democratic Party Chairman. This was the start of a prolific career in Democratic leadership, he served as chairman of the Midwestern Region of the Association of State Democratic Chairs and the third longest serving member of the Democratic Party's National Executive Committee. The personal and political intertwined in his life. He also created NATURE and Four Directions to promote repatriation of artifacts, protection of cultural and environmental resources on tribal land.

[3catwoman3]

1. The architecture and decor are described as "eclectic."

Try ostentatious and hideous.

It would be interesting to know why the people who had this $30 million monstrosity built moved out of it.

[highplainsdem]

4. The man who built it, to his taste, died, and his widow was downsizing.

It may not be to your taste, but he built exactly the home he wanted.

There are parts of it I like, or would with slight changes.

I've seen a lot uglier mansions.

[highplainsdem]

8. Btw, the man who built this had been a Biden staffer and speechwriter, something

I just learned from a longer video I added to the OP, along with an excerpt from his obituary.

[3catwoman3]

2. $30 million to build. 17,775 square feet.

7 bedrooms and 14 bathooms. 3000+ sq foot carriage house. 5 kitchens.

Sold for less than 4 million dollars.

[Mr.Bill]

3. The price of a townhome in San Francisco. n/t

[highplainsdem]

5. $30 million is more than ten times the cost of most homes in that

community. It's usually a bad idea, in terms of resale value, to build the most expensive home in the neighborhood.

And even an indoor pool can hurt resale value, and this house is built over a lot of water.

That waterpark, too, is outdoors in a part of the country that can see sub-zero winter lows.

Longterm maintenance would be an expensive nightmare.

[lapfog_1]

6. A little bit of local knowledge...

I grew up ( from around age 10 to 18 ) about 1 mile (maybe less) from where this house is and Lake Quivira.

I think my parents paid around $30,000 for our house and acerage ( 15 acres ) which border on the un-named "lake" which was the second lake upstream from Quivira. Right behind our property is now was is called swarner park, named after the family that donated it to the city of Shawnee. Joe Swarner (the son) went to grade, middle and high school with me.

Anyways, I knew a couple of kids that lived in Lake Quivira... it was sort of an odd duck of a place ( private security gate, etc ) and the kids there ( and their parents ) were all snobs too good to mix with the likes of us in the surrounding "country" ( this was mostly small farms and ranch property - not all the housing you see on google maps today ). Even in the sixties and seventies Lake Quivira was an "expensive" location in Johnson County, but by no means the most exclusive.

I can't imagine having a $30 M dollar mansion anywhere near there, it would stick out like a sore thumb.

Looking at all the properties now that occupy my old homestead, I'm really sorry my dad passed away and my mother sold the acreage around 1990 for peanuts. I see maybe 10 luxury homes on what was our horse pasture. One of the newer homes there is sitting on top of a natural gas seep. We found that because my father was trying to get a coyote that had a den there out of the den so he tossed a large firecraker in to scare it and the hill side exploded. Never found what was left of the coyote.

[highplainsdem]

7. My family lived a few miles away in the 1950s, when I was a

preschooler. Members of five generations of my family have lived in KC at various times.

I was considering moving there and thinking of Lake Quivira (but nothing remotely like that mansion) once, decades ago, when I thought I'd be able to buy there, but those plans fell through. It offered a location sort of central to relatives in various states, security, and some nice amenities to keep relatives who don't always get along happily scattered if that was a good idea (private lake, PGA golf course, tennis, bridle paths...and as the video says, 20 minutes from downtown KC).

I agree that a $30 million mansion does NOT belong there. No way selling that house was ever going to recoup the building cost. The man who built it built his dream home.

[hlthe2b]

9. I can certainly understand why the upkeep is scaring buyers away. WOW

[highplainsdem]

11. The house and grounds are spectacular and the location is good. But the waterpark

and all the water under the house would kill the interest of anyone not crazy about scuba diving.

[Emile]

10. Just a tad out of my price range.

[highplainsdem]

12. A couple of British scuba divers having a lot of fun discussing this house:

[highplainsdem]

13. I've edited the OP again to add (as now the first video there) a highlight video

that shows off the property better than the videos I found earlier.

[highplainsdem]

14. 2019 Forbes article about the house:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/keithflamer/2019/09/11/outrageous-kansas-cty-aqua-mansion-has-grottoes-waterfalls-and-scuba-tunnels/?sh=615d17a257fb