Luxe Bloomington home with multilevel pool and theater lists at $3.29M

Rick Vogelgesang hesitated as he tried to name his favorite part of his Bloomington house, picking between features such as a pool, movie theater, sunroom, central vacuum and two offices.

At first, he said it was "impossible to answer." But after another moment of reflection, he decided it would have to be the hot tub out back, next to the pool. He and his wife, Kelli Vogelgesang, would sink into it almost every day, he said, especially "at the end of long days when your bones and muscles are sore and tired."

But after three years in the home — with their adult son out of the house and their daughter through her first year of college — the Vogelgesangs are planning to downsize soon. So Rick Vogelgesang, also a real estate agent, listed the 8,400-square-foot home for just under $3.3 million.

"It's a lot of house, and 80% of the time, it's just her and me," 59-year-old Rick Vogelgesang said of him and his wife, who's 46.

In 2021, the Vogelgesangs were living in Eden Prairie when they came across the four-bedroom, six-bath home on a 3½-acre lot overlooking the Minnesota River Valley. They hadn't been planning to buy a house but were intrigued enough to take a look.

"You didn't even get a foot in the door, and there was just no walking away from it," said Vogelgesang, who owns West Bay Homes, a developer of high-end custom residential real estate. "You can just see there was no expense spared with this, whatsoever."

The 2008 house had "amazing bones" but also needed some renovations and "an enormous amount of refresh," which he called "a joy to do."

The interior of the Vogelgesangs' home's decoration is in striking, high-contrast whites and dark, almost black colors. The dining room is a deep brown, the primary bedroom and office in dark blues. In some rooms, enameled black trim stands out against white walls.

Kelli Vogelgesang is "a super brave" interior designer, her husband said.

"She is not afraid of color. She will go for it. She scares me a little bit, I guess," He said. "It always works out."

The home's two-level pool — a blue infinity pool on top with a black-lined reflection pool a couple feet below — was another feature that grabbed Rick Vogelgesang's attention.

As was the theater, with its reclining, tiered seats, "incredible sound system" and large projection screen, per Vogelgesang.

"It's kind of a fan-favorite in the wintertime, as, of course, the pool is during the summertime," he said.

The couple made the big-windowed sunroom by transforming a screen porch. "You can see all the way down to the woods and the yard and the sky."

Then there's that central vacuum, a built-in cleaner that removes dirt through a network of pipes and hoses installed in the home. The Vogelgesangs' is one of the new, higher-end systems in which the hoses pull out from, and suck back into, the wall.

Central vacuums in Minnesota date to the 1908 Glensheen Mansion in Duluth, said Jim Welch, sales manager at Burnsville-based Chavis Vacuum & Sewing. The store sells about 50 a year, and models like the Vogelgesangs' are powerful, effective and low maintenance, he said. They also save people from lugging around a 35-foot hose that plugs into various ports throughout the home or a bulky traditional vacuum up and down stairs.

"We demonstrate it when people come into the store because a lot of people aren't familiar with them," Welch said, adding many also don't realize how advanced the systems have become since their parents had one in the 1970s.

Such an extensive cleaning mechanism is useful, given how much time Rick Vogelgesang — a self-described outdoors person — spends in nature (and likely tracks back into the house).

He enjoys watching deer, coyotes, racoons and turkeys wander about his heavily wooded property. And he loves riding a fat-tire mountain bike on the nearby trail in the Minnesota River Valley.

"I can go all the way to Chaska along the river; a roundtrip runs about 22 miles," he said, the trail stretches to the Mall of America in the opposite direction.

The U.S. Forest Service manages the unpaved path, called the River Bottoms Trail, which is popular with mountain bikers, said Sara Joy Berhow of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Berhow, who also lives in Bloomington, recommended other nearby spots for outdoor recreation, including the Hyland Lake Park Reserve. Part of the Three Rivers Park District, the reserve offers cross-country ski trails (with artificial snow when needed) and is about two miles from the Vogelgesang house. The adjacent Hyland Hills Ski Area offers downhill skiing as well.

"There are both paved and unpaved trails throughout the park, so it's great for hiking or biking," Berhow said, adding the included Richardson Nature Center offers interpretive tours with naturalists. "And there's a fun nature play area for kids. Frankly, I enjoy it myself some days, too."

Rick Vogelgesang of Edina Realty (612-770-6433, RickVogelgesang@edinarealty.com) has the $3,290,000 listing.