Luxe Chaska house overlooking Hazeltine golf course listed for nearly $1.6M

When she was about 14 years old, Jim Leone's youngest daughter, Beret Leone, stood on the broad deck of their Chaska house looking out onto the green of Hazeltine National Golf Club to spot a familiar face.

"Love you, Tiger!" the teenager called to golf champion Tiger Woods, who was competing in the 2009 PGA tournament.

Woods looked up and waved. He and Vijay Singh, another elite golfer, were almost to the property's lot line. And Beret Leone, realizing she might have sounded rude, hurriedly called out a "love you, too, Vijay!"

Later, Jim Leone read the whole interaction in a golf magazine from a journalist who must have witnessed it. The headline: "Minnesota Nice."

Leone and his wife, Lisa Leone, raised five children in the five-bedroom, five-bathroom house after buying it 33 years ago. But now with the kids ages 29 to 40 and on their own — and the parents in their mid-60s and ready to downsize — the home is for sale for just under $1.6 million.

"Our house was the constant hub," Jim Leone said. "Everything was here. All the kids had their friends here. Everybody loved being here. The activity level in our house — I can't remember it not buzzing."

Many of those memories took place on the 1,000-foot deck, which extends farther than current code would allow. Others are thanks to renovations to the 1984-built house, including extending it by at least 1,000 square feet to its current size of just under 6,000. But the Leones still retained original decorative touches like the extensive hand-milled wood details made from trees harvested on the site.

Other features include six fireplaces (four inside, two outside), a large family room and a hot yoga room.

The home stands right on the edge of Hazeltine, a private course that has hosted numerous major golf competitions, including the U.S. Open, U.S. Women's Open and the PGA Championship — each of them twice. It hosted the Ryder Cup in 2016 and is scheduled to host it again in 2029, which will make it the first club in the country to have hosted that tournament twice, said Phil Anderson, general manager.

In the golf world, the club's "résumé is unparalleled to any other club in the country," Anderson said.

That's a plus for serious golfers; it's "a very challenging course," said Jim Leone, who played there frequently until back surgery sidelined him a year ago.

But one need not golf to enjoy living on a golf course, Leone said. (Nor would one need to become a member of Hazeltine, which has a $75,000 initiation fee and annual dues of $20,000, Anderson said.)

Rooms throughout the home offer views onto Hazeltine, including a great room with a vaulted ceiling, wet bar and a see-through fireplace shared, on the other side, with the deck. Windows also look onto the course from the kitchen, an informal dining area, a sitting room with a fireplace, the primary bedroom and its bathroom.

"Probably our favorite time of year here is winter — it's white as far as you can see," Jim Leone said. "In the summer, we have some people traffic, but the way our house is designed and the neighbors' houses are designed, it's very, very private. You've got this big area that's just yours."

But when you do feel like mingling with others, Chaska is a great place to do it, said Bob Roepke, a lifelong resident who served on the City Council for several years and was Chaska's mayor from 1984 to 2002.

"The thing I think makes Chaska appealing to a lot of people is it has a real strong sense of community and a real strong small-town feel," Roepke said.

Even as the city's population has grown from about 2,000 to nearly 30,000, that sense of community remains, Roepke said.

"You know your neighbors, your neighbors know you, and you kind of look out for each other, support each other," he said.

Local amenities that help maintain a sociable vibe include a walkable downtown and city park; the Chaska Community Center, with its pool, ice arena and other fitness features; and the Chaska Curling and Event Center. Nearby schools (Eastern Carver County District 112) and local parochial schools are well regarded, Roepke said, as is the Ridgeview Medical Center in nearby Waconia.

Community activities including Christmas in May, an annual day when more than a 100 volunteers, along with the city and local businesses, spiff up the homes of residents who lack the physical or financial resources to make improvements themselves.

The extension of four-lane Hwy. 212 from Eden Prairie to Chaska in 2008 dramatically shortened the drive into Minneapolis and St. Paul. Leone said his home's location makes it "ideal for jumping on a highway without ever knowing that you're close to one."

When his family first moved there, Leone said, he felt as if Chaska (which at the time had a population of about 12,000) was a one-horse town in the sticks.

Back then, "there was nothing," he said. "Today, I think of it as the epicenter."

Trevor Howat (651-304-6572, trevor@mnsold.net) and Chris Bremner (612-293-0351, chris@mnsold.net), both of eXp Realty, have the $1,595,000 property.