It Was a Three-Bedroom Colonial. Now, This Rural Massachusetts Property Feels Like ‘Disneyland.’

“It was like having Disneyland within the yard,” mentioned Mick Kittredge, now 32, who co-founded Kringle Candle Co. along with his father in 2009. “Once I was younger, it was just about only a common home.” 

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The unique three-bedroom Colonial bought in 1984 in Leverett, Mass.; Steve Upton, on left, the builder of the property, with Michael Kittredge II in 2008; and the house throughout renovation, 1989. Kittredge Household (3)

Now, an almost 60-acre portion of the property is coming onto the marketplace for $23 million, mentioned itemizing agent Johnny Hatem Jr. of

Douglas Elliman.

The gated property has a roughly 25,000-square-foot primary home, two 4,000-square-foot guesthouses, two automotive barns, a clubhouse, an out of doors pool and a pool cabana with a full kitchen and bar. The arcade and water park are inside a separate 55,000-square-foot, two-story constructing, Mr. Hatem mentioned. 

A roughly 10-acre parcel with an 8,500-square-foot house and a guesthouse is listed individually for $3.99 million. An extra parcel, with an apple orchard, can be being offered individually. “This place is simply too huge for one,” mentioned Mr. Kittredge.

On a current August afternoon, Mick Kittredge navigated an Indian bike across the property’s winding paths and gardens, which join the principle home to the outbuildings.

The late Mr. Kittredge based Yankee Candle as a teen within the Nineteen Sixties after making his mom a candle out of melted crayons as a result of he was too poor to purchase her a present. He parlayed the pastime right into a enterprise and offered 90% of Yankee Candle in 1998 for about $500 million.

By then, the property was properly below manner. 

Situated about 90 miles from Boston, Leverett is a middle-class city identified for its proximity to Amherst and close by schools, together with Smith School and Mount Holyoke School in addition to Deerfield Academy. The median listing worth for a single-family house was $650,000 in July 2022, in line with Realtor.com. (

Information Corp,

proprietor of The Wall Avenue Journal, additionally operates Realtor.com below license from the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtors.) 

Mick Kittredge mentioned the situation was a pure alternative for his dad, who grew up about 15 miles away in South Hadley. Leverett can be about 12 miles from Yankee Candle’s primary manufacturing facility and unique retail retailer in South Deerfield. 

After buying the unique house on 1.84 acres, Mr. Kittredge snapped up adjoining land because it grew to become out there, information present. Mick Kittredge estimated his father invested $50 million in each the land acquisitions and the a number of renovations through the years. 

“It was like a endless building website,” he mentioned, including that his father didn’t have a grasp plan however designed the property for entertaining and pleasure. “He was a dreamer and visionary, and constructed it alongside the best way.”

The renovated primary residence, accomplished in 2010, has six bedrooms, 11 fireplaces and a three-story nice room. There’s a large kitchen with 5 islands for meals prep and 7 sinks, in addition to a separate industrial kitchen on a decrease degree. There are additionally 4 eating rooms, a 10-seat theater and two wine cellars. 

The outbuildings mirror the late Mr. Kittredge’s ardour for vehicles, tennis and music. He constructed two automotive barns that may maintain a mixed 80 automobiles. One additionally has a mechanic’s bay with a carry and area for laundry and detailing, in addition to a pool desk and bar. The property has 4 tennis courts—two clay courts, an articifial-grass court docket and an indoor court docket. The late Mr. Kittredge, who performed guitar, drums and piano, additionally had a big guitar assortment and constructed a recording studio in his primary house. 

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Within the late Nineteen Nineties, he commissioned what he referred to as a spa constructing: a 55,000-square-foot construction centered round numerous actions. It has a 4,000-square-foot health club and therapeutic massage remedy rooms, a three-lane bowling alley, the indoor tennis court docket, an arcade, a billiard room and the indoor water park. 

The constructing’s massive flex area might be transformed right into a live performance corridor with a 4,000-square-foot stage and a 25-foot oak bar. “The dance flooring goes out, the tables go down and the lights go up,” Mick Kittredge mentioned. “It’s a wild transformation.”

Mick Kittredge mentioned his father gave the builder 12 months to finish the venture in order that it could be finished in time for his third wedding ceremony, which befell on the property in 1999. (Mr. Kittredge’s three marriages resulted in divorce.) 

Mick Kittredge mentioned his dad had a aptitude for theatrics, and fortunately indulged his son’s pursuits on holidays and birthdays. He had a Santa—typically a Yankee Candle retailer worker—fake to slip down the chimney at Christmastime, and when Mick Kittredge was going by means of a Batman section, his father constructed him an underground batcave. “He simply tried arduous to maintain that childhood marvel alive for me,” he mentioned. 

For a celebration, the elder Mr. Kittredge had a household pal costume up as Batman and carry out choreographed struggle scenes. Batman confirmed up in a batmobile that Mr. Kittredge owned that had been utilized in one of many Warner Bros. films, Mr. Kittredge recalled.  “I assumed Batman was as actual as Santa was to another child,” he mentioned.

Christmas dinners repeatedly included 400 friends, he added, and there have been quite a few fundraisers, galas and live-music performances by the Doobie Brothers, KC and the Sunshine Band and others.

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The property was at all times busy, however his father designed for his household a non-public area in the principle home with a main bed room, sitting space, kitchenette and two further bedrooms. It was a retreat Mr. Kittredge mentioned his father shared along with his third spouse and their two daughters. 

“My dad constructed this place for his household, as a result of he was very poor rising up,” he added. “He actually wished to have the ability to give his youngsters and his household a life-style he by no means dreamed of getting.” 

Mr. Kittredge, an avid automotive collector, constructed two automotive barns that may maintain 80 automobiles mixed. One has a pool desk and bar. Surette Media Group (3)

He mentioned his father saved including and renovating till 2012, when he suffered a stroke that impaired his speech and mobility. 

Just a few years in the past, Mr. Kittredge mentioned, his father offered off a parcel the place he had a small farm, and grew his personal greens and raised pigs, chickens and cows.

Mr. Hatem mentioned the worth of the principle property in the marketplace displays its location in a distant a part of the state. He mentioned he might see the property interesting to a automotive fanatic or enterprise govt, and even used for company retreats. “It’s an property for internet hosting,” he mentioned. 

Write to E.B. Solomont at eb.solomont@wsj.com