Real estate prices continue to increase in Florida and so does the price for America’s most expensive mansions in Hillsboro, Florida. In a battle of the country’s priciest real estate for sale, La Palais Royal, modeled after the Palace of Versailles in France, is back on the market at $159 million – an increase from the previous price of $139 million. Temporarily surpassed by Palazzo di Amore in Beverly Hills as the most expensive mansion at $195 million, the California mansion was recently reduced to $149 million shooting Le Palais Royal back into first place. Other contenders include an East Hampton estate, Briar Patch, at $140 million and a 1930’s compound, Rancho San Carlo, in Santa Barbara at $125 million.
Le Palais Royal is located on the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale – a wealthy enclave of ornate mansions that the locals refer to as Millionaires Mile. A special feature unique to the town is that homeowners can swim and sun in their oceanfront backyards and then walk a few feet out their front doors to their yachts parked across the street on the Intracoastal Waterway.
Le Palais Royal originally went on the market in 2014 with the $139 million price tag, selling unfinished. After a year with no takers, the owner pulled it off to complete it and make additions both in land and amenities. Now relisted, the additions include another 1.5 acres of land, two 3,000-square-foot guest houses with their own pool and a subterranean entertainment complex with an ice-skating rink, go-kart track, nightclub and a bowling alley. The final stage of construction will take another two years.
The Beaux Arts mansion is on over four acres of luxury real estate between 465-feet of Atlantic Ocean beachfront and 492-feet of the Intracoastal near the picturesque Hillsboro Lighthouse. Its public beaches are tricky to get to for non-residents creating a quiet haven of peace away from gawkers and the Fort Lauderdale spring break crowd. The main house has a 30-car subterranean garage and eleven bedrooms which include three master suites and a presidential room with a plunge pool on its outdoor terrace. There is also a 180-seat IMAX home theater with a 50-foot-wide screen. The marble floors have soundproof insulation to dispel the annoying sound of high heels clacking across the hard surface.
Prior to the new construction, grounds currently include a putting green, a 26-foot, three-tier fountain, a 4,500-square-foot infinity pool, LED-lit double-loop waterslide and a glass-bottomed Jacuzzi suspended over the swimming pool, white sand beach and large private pier on the Intracoastal. Some of the world’s best deep-sea fishing and the Florida Coral Reef are just minutes away by boat via the home’s private dock to the Hillsboro Inlet.
With luxurious new additions in the works on an added adjoining lot, America’s former most expensive home has just become pricier. Originally listed at $139 million in 2014, it has come back on the market at $159 million.
Saratoga Springs Mansion Auction!
Saratoga Springs is all about “Health, History and Horses,” as the local slogan goes. The many natural mineral springs, favored by the original Mohawk Indian tribe for their restorative properties are the only naturally carbonated mineral springs east of the Rocky Mountains. Each of the springs in the area have different mineral combinations and different springs were used in the hope of curing everything from skin problems to gout. The springs were developed to vie with the most popular spas in Europe and received hundreds of repeat visitors each year who would come to “take the waters.” The first frontiersman to discover the springs was Sir William Johnson, Superintendent of all Indian affairs in the British Colonies, who arrived in 1771. Following behind Johnson, Gideon Putnam was a visionary who built the first tavern and inn in 1802, and from there sprang a string of important hotels and spas that catered to luminaries such as Susan B. Anthony, John Philip Sousa and Oscar Wilde. Casinos were then built followed by the Saratoga Race Course, which is still considered one of the top ten best sporting venues in the country by Sports Illustrated even though it is the oldest racetrack in the country. The track traces its beginnings to 1863.
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Coming up for real estate auction on December 19th, this 25,000-square-foot mansion on eight acres is located in the affluent Saratoga Springs community of Meadowbrook Estates. Most recently listed at $8.6 million, the auction reserve is set at $4.9 million. Designed for a large family, the mansion has five bedrooms, eleven baths, a marble-floored entry with double staircases and a great room with stone fireplace and exposed beams. There is a mahogany-paneled dining room served by a gourmet kitchen with large island, a multi-row home theater and an eight-car garage. Sports and fitness lovers will have an indoor basketball court, fitness center with sauna, one-lane bowling alley, tennis courts with both indoor and outdoor pools. There is also a game room with billiards and multiple lounge games.
Only an hour from New York City in the Adirondack foothills, the estate will go to auction on December 19th with reserve set at $4.9 million.
La Jolla Brush Stroke!
San Diego was the first place Europeans landed on the New World’s west coast, first claimed by Spain in the 1500s until Mexico gained its independence from Spain and claimed it for themselves. United States leaders were attracted by its deep water harbor and seized it from Mexico at the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, pushing the border with Mexico further south to Tijuana. From its meager beginnings, as the city grew, it was host to the Panama-California Exposition in 1915 and the California Pacific International Exposition in 1935. Many of the Spanish-Baroque style buildings built in Balboa Park where the expositions were held are still standing. Today, San Diego is popular for its valuable luxury real estate, beautiful beaches, exciting restaurants and nightlife as well as its world-renowned zoo.
The name Brush Stroke was well chosen for this ultra contemporary mansion juxtaposed by the natural textures in the landscape. From almost any angle a photograph could easily morph onto a canvas forming a natural balanced composition that could be hung with pride. The crowning touch is a black-bottomed swimming pool shaped in the perfect curve of the tip of an artist’s brush. Located in the exclusive La Jolla coastal-front community surrounded by several beautiful mansions just north of San Diego, the house sits on 1.3 acres with ocean views. Designed by award-winning architect Wallace Cunningham, the 5,000-square-foot residence has three bedrooms, four baths and was featured in the January 2006 issue of Architectural Digest.
Brushstroke, a Wallace Cunningham designed contemporary with ocean view in La Jolla, California, is priced at $12.7 million.
Enrique Iglesias’s Miami Beach Mansion!
Hitting the world by storm just like his father, Julio, in the 1970s, Enrique Iglesias, at only 39, has been an overachiever in the the music world with major hits such as Hero, Somebody’s Me and Tonight.
Early on and not wanting his dad to know he had sights on the music business, Enrique made his first recordings in Canada under the name of Martinez. However, with almost instant popularity he began using his own name in his first album, Enrique Iglesias in 1995. Since that time he has cut ten albums, has sold over 137 million records worldwide and has had over 150 number-one hits across all of the Billboard charts worldwide. His music awards number in the hundreds, including 23 Billboard Music Awards, 36 Billboard Latin Music Awards, one Grammy, five Latin Grammys and ten World Music Awards. This year, he went on tour for the first time with his father to Romania in Cluj-Napoca and in the capital, Bucharest.
Currently on the market is one of the former mansions of Enrique, which he purchased on Miami Beach’s Star Island in 2000. He enlarged and restored the original 1930’s home to 6,670 square feet that includes six bedrooms and eight baths, formal rooms, family room, media room and maid’s quarters. Named Villa Jasmine, the architectural style is Moroccan/Indian with a mosaic fountain, glass beaded geometric pool and exotic Moroccan-shaped arches. Included are a rooftop jacuzzi, a home theater and a 1,400-square-foot pool and gazebo along with a private dock on 150-feet of waterfront with views of Biscayne Bay and the Miami skyline. Iglesias sold the home in 2004 to the CEO of PetMeds.com. Originally priced at $23.9 million, it has been reduced to $22.5 million.
Gordon Apker missed his college graduation ceremonies because he was busy opening his own first Shakey’s Pizza restaurant. Apker had been working part-time at a Shakey’s Pizza while attending college after the Veltex service station in Tacoma where he had previously worked declared bankruptcy and closed. It was from his working knowledge of Shakey’s that he realized owning one of the restaurants might be a good future. But he didn’t stop there. He got together two college friends and between them, came up with $12,000 and proposed to Sherwood “Shakey” Anderson that they buy the rights to all Shakey’s franchises west of the Mississippi. The deal went through and in time, he bought out his partners and later sold the company at age 48.
Apker had acquired a passion for car collecting from the time he worked at Veltex in the 1960s. By the early 1990s, he bought a four-acre mansion in Des Moines, Washington overlooking Puget Sound, the Olympic mountains and other islands with its own private beach. The original property from 1973 came with large outbuildings, which he renovated into a 20,000-square-foot vintage automobile facility for his 30-car collection. The Apkers then built a custom 7,856-square-foot home with five bedrooms and five baths using materials and features collected around the world. While renovating the barn for his car collection, he also replicated the Tacoma Veltex station inside the garage where he has four employees to care for the cars. Apker is known for his charitable activities through car shows held on the property. Now for sale, this collector’s dream garage and magnificent home is priced at $3.825 million.
From celebrity homes to some of the most prime luxury real estate across the U.S.A, this is just a short list of some of the most expensive mansions in America.
Courtesy of TopTenRealEstateDeals.com
