Great Barrington — Denizens of the Berkshires have grown accustomed to seeing celebrities. After all, from the Gilded Age mansions of more than 100 years ago to the music, film and television artists of today, the rich and famous have been an established presence in the area for as long as anyone can remember.

Now yet another billionaire celebrity has bought property in the Berkshires. On March 12, a pair of properties on either side of Seekonk Cross Road in Great Barrington was sold for $3.2 million, according to records in the Register of Deeds. The buyer, W.L. Ross Family, is a limited liability company that had only been formed a few days earlier.
According to the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the manager and signatory of the LLC is none other than Wilbur L. Ross, the billionaire investor and industrialist who currently serves as secretary of commerce in the administration of President Donald Trump.
And if the old saying about politics making strange bedfellows is true, then it must apply to business as well. The seller is Robert M. Beusman, better known in the area as Bobby Houston.
Houston, an Academy Award-winning film director, is also an activist and a leader of the Green Tea Party of Great Barrington, a progressive organization originally formed in 2016 to save the town’s historic Searles Middle School from demolition, but that has since morphed into something of a Trump resistance group. Houston confirmed the sale in an email Friday but declined to comment further.

The broker for the transaction was Berkshire Property Agents whose web site describes the property as “[an] absolutely beautiful and thoughtful renovation of this antique home, including a spectacular great room, amazing custom kitchen, two master suites with huge spa-like bathrooms — one with a fireplace, and in-ground pool. The offering includes a three-car garage and two bedroom caretaker’s apartment. Close to Great Barrington, there are views over pastures and venerable old-growth trees.”
Built in 1780, the two-story single-family home, which sits on about 7.5 acres and has 4,665 square feet of floor space, has 10 rooms total, including five bedrooms, a greenhouse, a garden, a patio and a pool.
In 2017, Forbes reported that Ross had a net worth of $2.9 billion, though that amount was adjusted down to $700 million after the magazine viewed the financial disclosure form he was required to submit after being nominated to a cabinet position in the Trump administration.

Ross owns several properties, including two in Palm Beach, Florida. One of the Palm Beach holdings is a 16,247-square-foot mansion at 328 El Vedado Road on a full acre along the Intracoastal Waterway. He bought the property in 2008 for $13.3 million. It is only a few miles south of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf club and resort and is listed as the address of W.L. Ross Family LLC
Known as the King of Bankruptcy, Ross was perhaps best known for buying bankrupt companies, often in the manufacturing and steel industries, and later selling them at a substantial profit after their situations improved.
In fact, when Trump fell on hard times in the casino industry in the early 1990s, Ross made a deal with the future president that allowed him to maintain control of his bankrupt Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City.
As for what he plans to do with the relatively modest property, Ross has two daughters, Jessica Ross and Amanda Ross. There are rumors that Ross actually bought the property for one of them. Kenneth J. Albano, the Springfield attorney who represented Ross in forming the LLC, did not return a message seeking comment.
Seekonk Cross Road is a leafy country road that cuts through rolling hills and fields. It runs from Route 41 north to Alford. The new Ross property is near the Alford town line.
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Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the real estate agency responsible for this sale.