Under Armour founder Kevin Plans Sells Georgetown Home for $17.8 Million

One of Georgetown’s most prestigious and historic homes, owned by Under Armour founder Kevin Plank, has sold for $17.8 million dollars after two years on the market. That’s almost 40 percent below the original asking price.

When it first listed at $29.5 million in 2018, the 12,000 square
foot mansion was the most expensive house on the DC market. Plank and his
wife D. J. Plank found no takers at this price, and it later relisted at $24.5
million.

The sale was finalized on June 15. The listed buyer is Toni L. Briggs. This transaction was a positive sign for the area luxury home market. In March and April the housing market stalled due to COVID-19 but has picked up moving into the summer.

Prime DC Property

This
property, at 1405 34st St Northwest, is one of the best houses and most
important houses in the District. The home is partially covered in ivy and sits
on a third of an acre with nearly a half block of desirable frontage. It holds
eight bedrooms and 12 bathrooms and features a first-rate gourmet kitchen, a
cigar and whiskey room, a heated lap pool and a detached gym.

There are
three full floors and a living room with floor-to-ceiling windows. The property
has abundant parking, something found in few area dwellings.

The Planks
purchased the house in 2013 for around $7.85 million. A big reason for the
acquisition was to host international guests, but they found they used the
residence less than they had anticipated.

Their
primary home is in Greenspring Valley in Baltimore County, closer to Port
Covington, where Plank is the executive chairman of a multi-billion dollar
development of 235 acres along the Baltimore waterfront. Port Covington is
slated to be the home of Under Armour’s new 4 million square foot headquarters.

A
House of History

The
200-year-old property was once the home of former Ambassador David K. E. Bruce
and his wife Evangeline Bell Bruce. Their formal parties included US presidents
and other world leaders. In 1960 the home gained a 34-foot ballroom. The dining
room boasts a Murano glass chandelier.

Upstairs
bedrooms bear dedications to the nation’s presidents including Kennedy,
Jefferson, Eisenhower, Lincoln, Washington and Theodore Roosevelt.

Elaborate
Renovation

When the
Planks acquired the home, it was stately and luxurious, but the interiors were
dated with a lot of beige furnishing and dark hardwood. They recruited Maryland
designers Patrick Sutton and Pyramid builders to undertake the renovation.

The
centerpiece of the renovated building is a staircase built of the same marble
used for the Jefferson Memorial. If weighs 22,000 pounds and cost $1 million.
The improvements also included a media room in the lower level designed after
the style of a 1920s speakeasy.

Under
Armour

Plank is the founder of Under Armour and former CEO until he stepped down recently after a period of lackluster sales and profits. He remains involved as the “brand chief.”

Under Armour is a leading manufacturer of sports performance clothing. It’s best known for introducing the immensely popular sweat-wicking microfiber T-shirts. The company also sells jackets, shoes, hoodiies, pants, shorts, leggings, bags, gloves, caps and protective gear. It employs 14,000 people and has annual revenues around $5 billion. Kevin Plank started the company in 1996 and took it public in 2005.

Under Armour
is a major supplier of sports uniforms and its spokespeople have included NBA
star Stephen Curry and wrestler and entertainer Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

From Football Player to Entrepreneur

In the 1990s Plank was a fullback and special teams captain on the University of Maryland football team, and, like many players, he was unhappy with the undershirts. They became waterlogged with perspiration and had to be changed several times during a game or practice session. He noticed that the compression shorts he and his teammates wore didn’t do that, and he set out to develop a T-shirt that would offer similar sweat-shedding comfort. It’s fair to say that Plank’s shirts defined a new category of sports clothing called performance apparel.

At age 24 he started his company his grandmother’s home, not far from the luxury residence he recently sold. Plank took $20,000 of his own savings and put another $40,000 on credit cards, and he drove up and down the east coast looking for takers for the revolutionary product he carried in the trunk of his car. Toward the end of 1996 he made a $17,000 team sale and Under Armour was off and running.

Plank has
served on the Board of Directors of the National Football Foundation and the
College Hall of Fame and as a trustee of the University of Maryland College
Park Foundation. He is 47 years old and he and his wife have two children. His
net worth is in the vicinity of $1 billion.