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House with private beach

: This property is expected to find a new owner for $295 million

Photo:

Dawn McKenna Group / Coldwell Banker Realty

In Naples, southwest Florida, a property is for sale for a record sum. The heirs of the late owners are offering it for $295 million (€274 million), according to a prospectus from brokerage firm Coldwell Banker. This price could set a new high if the property finds a buyer at this offer. It would be the most expensive home ever sold, located directly on the Gulf of Mexico.

Grandchildren part with property

Businessman

John

and his wife

Rhodora Donahue

bought part of the property on the Gordon Pointe Peninsula in 1985 for $1 million. They discovered it quite by accident on their flight home from vacation. At that time there was only a simple fishing hut surrounded by numerous mangroves.

Over the years, the couple developed an impressively sized property by purchasing neighboring properties and expanding the houses. Both have since died. Their 13 children and 84 grandchildren now want to part with part of the property.

There are a total of three houses on the property: The main house extends over 11,500 square meters, has six bedrooms and a covered pool. A second, 5,500-square-foot, five-bedroom home with an outdoor pool followed in 1990. The last property was completed in 2013, measuring around 6,000 square meters. The property has its own private beach as well as a private marina.

The space was also needed: more than 100 family members regularly gathered on the property on weekends. They celebrated Halloween parties, looked for Easter eggs and celebrated birthdays and weddings. Son

Bill Donahues

(68) told the Wall Street Journal that the family has now grown to over 185 great-grandchildren.

Naples – a place for the super rich

“Unique and incomparable” is how the brokerage firm Coldwell Banker describes the property. It offers the chance to acquire a private oasis in the exclusive Port Royal district. Here you can achieve a luxurious, very personal lifestyle.

Naples has been attracting the wealthy for years. Real estate prices in the luxury oasis have risen sharply. A property changed hands for around $62 million in 2022, setting a new city record.

In the Port Royal neighborhood, it's hard to find a home for less than $10 million, reports the Wall Street Journal. Billionaires in particular own real estate here. A real estate agent tells the US newspaper about buyers who have repeatedly spent $200 million on land and building houses on large areas in recent years.

Donahue founded the investment firm Federated Hermes with two friends in the 1950s. If the Donahue estate sells for the asking price, it will set a new U.S. record for the most expensive real estate sale. A hedge fund manager holds the current record at $240 million for a Central Park penthouse in New York purchased five years ago.

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