Each week, we look at the most expensive MLS-listed house in each state.
We’re now 15 houses into our look at each state’s most expensive house, and we’ve seen our share of next-level … creativity. A home with a dog spa? Check. A mansion outfitted with an Imax theater? Oh, but of course. A castle? Been there and vaulted the moat.
But Iowa’s most expensive home gave us pause. Because the $ 13.8 million property comes with its own Irish pub. And we’re not talking a few rickety stools set up around a Guinness tap. It’s a full-size pub built for entertaining crowds of over 150 thirsty revelers with a pool table, libations aplenty, and its own stage. It also comes with its own name plastered over the entrance—Kevin O’Sullivan’s. It’s a not-so-wee slice of Dublin dropped into northwest Iowa just miles from the Minnesota border.
“Some people might have a bar, some people might have a wet bar, but no one has a pub in their house,” said listing agent Eric Hoien, who hesitated to venture a guess at the cost of pub building before concluding, “I don’t really want to know.”
How did this pub come to be? And what’s it doing in a home on West Okoboji Lake?
Hoien told us all roads lead back to homeowner Tom Bedell‘s deceptively simple philosophy: “What can’t we do?” Bedell and his wife, Molly, weren’t constrained by conventional thinking when it came to constructing their nearly 25,000-square-foot mansion, Hoien said. “What he told people that worked on the house was ‘Let’s not limit ourselves,’” Hoien said.
That lack of limitations led Bedell to journey to Ireland with his architect, lead contractor, and a cabinetmaker for a tour of real Irish pubs. The group spent four days (and nights) going from pub to pub on the Emerald Isle, conducting extensive “research” that informed the creation of Kevin O’Sullivan’s. The name was Bedell’s inspiration—taken from a make-believe leprechaun who guided his thought process.
Bedell’s unconstrained way of thinking led to a home custom-built for entertaining large crowds on the lake. Besides the pub downstairs, there’s an open, sky-lit “gathering room” built to accommodate up to 500 partygoers. And, of course, it comes with a performance stage. Hoien said the home’s hosted a number of galas and fundraisers over the years and will appeal to a buyer who’s into inviting more than a few friends over.
Besides the party-inspired spaces, the home features works of art designed specifically for the home. According to Hoien, Bedell’s direction to the artists who provided abstract sculptures and colorful glass installations for his home was simply, “Do what you think you can’t.”
That mandate also extended to most of the 140 contractors who worked on the two-year construction project. So in addition to the home’s nine bedrooms and 16 bathrooms, there’s a boat dock out back, a home theater with its own lobby, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the lake, an art studio, and a caterer’s kitchen.
There’s also a guesthouse, which Hoien said was “nicer than most people’s main home.”
Despite Iowa’s (undeserved) rep as a flat state of corn and beans, Hoien said the Okoboji Lake area is known for its pristine waterways, gently rolling hills, and many trees. “It’s like a Shangri-La in the Midwest,” Hoien said.
So who will pony up the dough to live in Iowa’s version of Shangri-La? Hoien said he hasn’t had much international interest, and he figures it’ll be a buyer who’s already got a place at the lake and is looking to upgrade: “It’s going to be someone who likes to entertain. Someone who wants to make a statement and say, ‘I have the biggest, most expensive home on the lake.’ Of course, there’s ego involved.”
As for Bedell, he’s now in Oregon designing and crafting guitars. HIs wife, Molly, now runs Two Old Hippies, a retail shop in Nashville, TN. Hoien said the house was built when they were raising a family, and now that the kids are grown they’re ready to part with the home. He added that Bedell knows he won’t recoup his construction costs, but he’s made peace with it.
The home’s been on the market for almost a year and a half, and Hoien said Bedell has no regrets about building the enormous mansion with no limits. “I think he knew he was overbuilding,” Hoien said, “but he has an attitude of ‘You know what? Let’s celebrate, let’s have fun, we had a great time, let’s move on.’”