Biotech Exec Lands Estate
Eyed by Basketball Star

A Florida property briefly under contract to basketball star Shaquille O'Neal has landed in the hands of a veteran pharmaceutical and biotechnology-industry executive. Myrtle Potter -- who's held high-level positions with Genentech, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck -- this month paid $12 million for the Fort Lauderdale waterfront house, which was built by the co-owner of a nightclub and includes a 1,800-square-foot discothèque.

Mr. O'Neal, who's playing in his second season with the Miami Heat basketball franchise, had the house under contract this past summer, according to DeCaro Auctions, the company that handled the sale, but that deal fell through, says Daniel DeCaro. Mr. O'Neal declined to comment.

Ms. Potter, 47 years old, was one of the highest-level African-American women in business before stepping down in August as president, commercial operations, at Genentech, which she joined in 2000. This year she joined in the launch of development company Chapman Properties, which she says will invest in rapidly appreciating areas of Florida and California to provide "homes that working-class people can afford." Ms. Potter also consults for several biotech and drug-industry venture funds and serves on the board of Amazon.com.

The Fort Lauderdale purchase price is one of the highest ever in Broward County, brokers there say. The Mediterranean-style property sits on just over an acre and has 20,000 square feet of living space, four bedrooms, two guest homes, a nine-hole putting green and a 10-car garage. The house was built in 2003 by its owner and seller, John Cahalin, who turned to the auction house after the home remained unsold for about a year, Mr. DeCaro says. The property was scheduled to go on the block in May, but Mr. O'Neal made an offer for the home before then. When that deal collapsed, Ms. Potter made an offer. (Mr. Cahalin couldn't be reached for comment.)

Ms. Potter says she plans to convert the disco to a large game room. She adds, "I'm too old to dance."

Oil, Land and 'Roses'

An oil heiress whose family owns one of the largest ranches in Texas last month bought the Jackson, Wyo., house of novelist Warren Adler, whose "The War of the Roses" and "Random Hearts" became Hollywood movies.

Anne Burnett Windfohr Marion, who owns the Four Sixes ranches (480,000 acres in total) and Burnett Oil Co. in Fort Worth, Texas, bought the house for close to its $5 million asking price. It's in Fairway Estates, a gated community where West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Mars candy heir John Mars own homes.

Mr. Adler and his wife, Sunny, bought three acres of land in Jackson in 1990 and completed the 8,000-square-foot, French-country-style house on the site two years later. The Montana sandstone structure, with 360-degree views of the Grand Teton Mountains, has four bedrooms and five baths. David E. Viehman and Cindy Leinonen, of Jackson Hole Real Estate & Appraisal, had the listing.

Anne Rice Lists Again

Author Anne Rice has made another real-estate move. She's listed her 12,000-square-foot, Tuscan-style villa in La Jolla, Calif., for $11.5 million -- just nine months after she paid $8 million for it. It's been a busy housing year for the 64-year-old "Vampire Chronicles" author, beginning with the sale of her longtime New Orleans home in January for $3.3 million. Besides buying the La Jolla villa in February -- it has panoramic ocean views -- she sold two Manhattan condominiums and, a few months ago, raised the asking price on a four-bedroom house she owns in Kenner, just outside New Orleans, to $3.75 million from $3.5 million. (She owns several other properties in the New Orleans area, her Web site says.) Now, she's about to close on a new home in Rancho Mirage, Calif., near Palm Springs, for close to its $4.2 million asking price.

After buying the La Jolla house, Ms. Rice updated heating and cooling systems and redid the property's landscaping, says listing agent Bonnie Adams of Coldwell Banker, La Jolla. The listing includes all furnishings, among them 19th-century antiques and a four-poster bed, as well as china, linens and silverware. "I acquired these antiques over many years. They were cherished in our home, and part of our lives," Ms. Rice said in an email.

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