We’ve known since May that President Obama and his family plan to lease a $5 million brick Tudor mansion in the tony Kalomara neighborhood of Washington, D.C., after he leaves office next month.
Over the weekend TMZ, which obtained construction permits for the house, revealed some of the work being done on the home to prepare it for its famous occupants. The sprawling home was meticulously renovated in 2011, according to real estate listings.
Permits show that the contractor will “temporarily convert one garage stall into an office with new bathroom,” TMZ reports.
Guesses on who gets the garage office? The president? FLOTUS? The Secret Service that will still be assigned to the president, per custom?
The home is being prepped with an enhanced security system, upgraded electrical system, new fencing and a catwalk being built over an existing staircase, according to TMZ.
The Obamas announced earlier this year that they would stay in Washington for a couple of years after he leaves office so their youngest daughter, Sasha, can finish high school there.
“Transferring someone in the middle of high school? Tough,” the president said.
The 1928 brick Tudor they are moving into is owned by Joe Lockhart, who served as White House press secretary under President Bill Clinton, and his wife, Giovanna Gray, a Glamour editor, CNN reported in May.
The 8,200-square-foot home has nine bedrooms and eight and a half bathrooms.
According to real estate firm the McFadden Group, it has “gracious public rooms,” spa baths with exquisite finishes, a fully finished lower level with an au-pair suite and “stunning oversized terrace/formal gardens.”
It has been described as meticulously renovated, with a stunning oversized terrace with formal gardens and a courtyard big enough to fit eight to 10 vehicles.
It sits in the city’s upscale embassy neighborhood, just two miles from the White House.
Secret Service agents will be there at all times, CNN reported, with an agent likely to be stationed at the front door.
Now back to the office in the garage.
It won’t be the only office Barack Obama will have access to while he sticks around in Washington.
The Washington Post reported last week that the president has leased office space in the award-winning World Wildlife Fund headquarters, one of the “greenest” buildings in town — quadruple LEED-certified and made from environmentally friendly materials.
The Post noted how the building is a seven-minute drive, eight-minute bike ride and 20-minute walk from the family’s new rental home.