Engineer Kirk Harns is the new owner of a long-time roadside curiosity in Midway: a 20,000-square-foot mansion and 3,000-square-foot guest house that broke ground in 2017 but was never finished.
Kamas realtor Kouri Richins had her eyes on the property and court filings claim it was a point of contention between her and her husband Eric, who allegedly balked at the $2 million price tag.
For her part, Kouri says they were celebrating purchasing the property the night of March 3, 2022. Prosecutors allege that’s when she spiked Eric’s Moscow mule with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl, and he died that morning.
Kouri closed on the Midway mansion March 5, 2022, and then defaulted on her mortgages in September 2023.
According to Wasatch County records, Harns bought it for the $3.75 million listing price.
The Salt Lake City native who now splits his time between Park City and California says he didn’t have an interest in the pending murder case.
“I looked at it before I even knew that, and we just look at it as a straight business deal,” Harns said. “Nothing to do with the rest of the circus.”
He says previous owners hoped to turn it into a wedding or event venue, but it's unlikely to get a commercial rezone on the property.
“So we will just be finishing it into a single family residence and making it look in a manner that will reflect how pretty that lot is,” Harns said.
He says he’ll stay true to one of the original visions for the 8-bed and 11.5-bath property, which included a nine-car garage, therapy pool, full-sized pool, exercise room, golf simulator, indoor volleyball court and room designed for virtual reality installations.
Because it was built to be an event venue, it doesn’t have a proper master bedroom. Harns says they’ll reorganize to make sure it does.
He and his family have flipped a home like this before. They created the 37,000-square-foot Cedar Rose Estate in Parowan, near Brian Head, which is now a wedding venue.
“The fun part for me is my son and I did the last project down in Parowan together, and we're going to do this one together. So it's a pretty darn fun thing to do,” Harns said. “He's an engineer, and I'm an engineer, and engineers like to build things.”
So the property will likely be flipped after all.
“I hope that justice, whatever that is, prevails,” Harns said about the murder case. “I don't know what that is, because I'm not a juror and I haven't seen all the news, and I think only a jury is going to be able to do that. I just think it's a completely sad situation. I guess I feel most badly for the children.”
