Texas oil tycoon buys $28M Mercer Island estate for nearly 2x its assessed value

A $28 million waterfront estate in Mercer Island’s Shorewood neighborhood recently sold to a Texas oil tycoon in one of the Puget Sound region’s largest residential sales of the year.

The buyers, Rodney R. Lewis and Hanne Maureen Zak, closed on the property in an off-market transaction on June 30 and paid nearly double the property’s combined assessed value of $15.2 million, according to The Seattle Times.

Lewis is the founder and CEO of Lewis Energy Group, a San Antonio-based oil and natural gas company. Lewis is also an aviation enthusiast who founded Lewis Air Legends, a Texas-based organization that holds the world’s largest private collection of WWII airplanes.

The two-home estate includes a 7,840-square-foot waterfront residence with six bedrooms, five bathrooms, and a 460-square-foot deck. The larger of the two homes was initially built in 2000 and underwent a remodel in 2019, according to King County records obtained by The Puget Sound Business Journal.

The second residence is a 5,000-square-foot home, which sits a bit more inland of the 1-acre lot that features 109 feet of Lake Washington waterfront, an outdoor swimming pool, and a private dock with boat lifts.

The seller, Northview Trust, purchased the primary property for $6.4 million in 2004 and later acquired the second residence in 2005 for $2.7 million, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

Mercer Island sale comes amid a wave of high-end price cuts across the region

The only residential property to sell higher than the Mercer Island home was the waterfront estate of Bruce and Jolene McCaw, selling for $38 million in April. The McCaws’ 17,600-square-foot mansion was one of the most expensive transactions ever recorded in the Puget Sound region.

That transaction was completed after multiple price reductions that brought its initial listing price of $85 million in 2022 down to $58 million in 2024, and eventually to its sale price of $38 million. King County records valued the property at $54 million, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

The price reductions of the McCaws’ former home reflect a growing strategy of listing a high-luxury home with the anticipation of continuously adjusting the price to attract buyers. In June, the most expensive home on the market at the time in Seattle’s Denny-Blaine neighborhood saw a 40% price cut, dropping its asking price from $75 million down to $45 million.

Another waterfront mansion in Bellevue saw a similar price reduction after it was listed for $32.5 million in 2023, and later adjusted with a new price tag of $21.5 million in late 2025.

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