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Interview of the Architect Behind the 2010 New American Home

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2010 New American Home Interior

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2010 New American Home Exterior

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Local timeshare mogul, David Siegel, has put his unfinished mansion on 10 acres along Lake Butler named “Versailles” in the guard gated community of Reserve at Lake Butler Sound in the Town of Windermere for sale at $75 million “As Is”.

It’s actually listed at $100 million in the MLS which is the price if you want it finished to your specs.

I’m sure most buyers will be buying this property with cash, but if you were to buy this home at $100 million and get a 30 year mortgage at 4.51% with 20% down, the monthly payments would be $405,824 plus taxes and insurance.

I realize we’re talking about $75 million, but the “As Is” price is a better deal. Whether or not $75 million is a good price is another debate altogether.

Depending on what stage of construction this home is in, I can find contractors all day long that’ll complete this home for less than $25 million. From the photos, it appears this home is at drywall stage which means it’s only a matter of putting on the finishing touches.

It has 66,800 square feet (not 90,000 sq ft as reported in the news), 13 bedrooms, 23 bathrooms, 20 Car Garage, and the architecture is based on the residence of Louis the XIV.

It’s being hailed as the most expensive home in America by WSJ but it’s no where near the house Zillow zestimates at $270,408,000. The home that previously held this title was the oceanfront Portabello in Corona Del Mar, California.

A site has been set up for the mansion at http://www.lakebutlermansion.com with all the photos and videos available on this property.

It’s been on the market for nearly 2 months but somehow the press has gotten news of it recently.

Folks around these parts all know that David Siegel made his fortune through Westgate Resorts, the premier timeshare in Central Florida.

He’s also known for his former home on Lake Butler Palazzo del Lago which his former wife, Betty Whitaker, currently resides in.

Here’s a link to the Virtual Tour of “Versailles”. Here’s also a Vitrual Tour of Lake Butler which is the lake this property is located on created via helicopter by Ed Fink of Big Eye in the Sky

I’ll gladly set up a private viewing of this estate with the right credentials so Contact Me.

So the Mouse House created recently by an Orlando based company, IQ-Homes, relishes our association. The home is shaped like a mouse, so I wouldn’t want to live there but it does incorporate quite a few green and smart home technologies that I’d like to begin seeing in more homes.

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Everyone once in a while, my real estate adventures lead me out of SW Orlando and this past week it’s led me to downtown looking at condos. The skyline’s changed quite a bit over the years with the addition of lots of new buildings this past decade.

The one building that I’ve noticed over the past few years is the Winnie Palmer Hospital. I had no idea what the building was until today. I just knew it was my favorite building to look at while driving down the East West Expressway or I-4.

A little research reveals that the building was completed in 2006 for a whopping $111 million and it’s also the third largest birthing center in the country not to mention it brings the Orlando skyline alive.

Who knew? The coolest looking building in downtown Orlando is a hospital.

The study also cites a possible link with health problems caused by the emission of hydrogen sulfide and formaldehyde from Chinese drywall.

The good news for homeowners in Florida is that this study now opens the door for federal assistance on re mediating the problem.

related link: AP

Here’s some with a Halloween theme:

and here’s some other curious and creative works of edible architecture

Please excuse the middle of the day photos, but I was driving by today and thought it would be great to share updated photos on the progress of Dellagio.

If you’re one of those people who’d like to consider your house a work of art, you may be interested in the Nautilus House created by bioarchitect Javier Senosiain in 2006. It truly is a work of art, although you may want to make a little less of a statement. It’s definitely not gonna go over so well with the homeowner’s association, but if you’ve got a plot of land overlooking the ocean or mountains or something then this could be the home that makes you stand out from the pact.

World Architecture News describes it as “The metaphor was to feel like an internal inhabitant of a snail, like a mollusk moving from one chamber to another, like a symbiotic dweller of a huge fossil maternal cloister. This home social life flows inside the Nautilus without any division, a harmonic area in three dimensions where you can notice the continuous dynamic of the fourth dimension when moving in spiral over the stairs with a feeling of floating over the vegetation”.

I was never gonna come up with a description like that, so I decided quote their description. In any case, I really like it because I’m one kooky son of a gun or more of a real estate geek than I thought. Whether or not I’d live in the darn thing is another argument altogether. It would definitely make a nice beach house somewhere in New Smyrna, Melbourne, or Ponce Inlet and everyone in Central Florida would know about it.

I guess the question of the day is would you live in the Nautilus House? As crazy as it sounds, I think I would depending on the price. Some family in Mexico definitely would because they’ve been living in it since 2006. I wonder how it would do for resale. Probably not so good, but you can always say your house is a work of art and no one could argue. Anytime someone asks if you’ve been living in a shell, you can always say yes and have an excuse for not being up on current events.

see video: Nautilus House

Here’s a video of ESPN featuring the home of ex Orlando Magic star Tracy McGrady on a show a called The Life .

This t-mackin home was originally built for golf legend Payne Stewart by architect John Henry along the shores of Lake Pocket on Charles E. Limpus Road right here in Dr. Phillips. Henry called his creation Villa Serena because it was designed to offer privacy, security, and a sublime spirit.

It truly is one of the most majestic homes in Orlando with Henry’s signature palladium arches, abundant stone and plaster details, and influences from the Mediterranean Revival and Italian Baroque architectural styles. I’m not sure if the architect would describe it this way, but it’s macadocious.

related post: Former Home of Payne Stewart and Tracy McGrady

The construction of Palazzo del Lago located at 9602 Chase Road in Windermere was commissioned by Bettie Whitaker who is the divorced wife of local time share tycoon David Siegel. This property built in 1994 along the shores of Lake Butler encompasses 3 stories, 20,639 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a heliport, a lavish elevator, and extensive marble imported from Spain and Italy. Renaissance style statues like the one pictured here surround the entire perimeter of the property giving it a feel of a home from the Gilded Age.

Wait, there’s more. A 2,052 square foot lake house is situated intimately close to the lake featuring extensive glass to afford panoramic views of Lake Butler. It’s surrounded by a blanket of age old oaks that give an old Florida feel. I think the views from the boat house are probably better than the ones from the main residence. Frankly, the guest house is my dream house but being able to pay the property taxes which are just a hair over $100,000 could pose a problem for me.

Michael Jackson supposedly once offered $75 million for the property only to be denied. I’d imagine he was told to beat it.

Construction was completed by Capri Contractors, but were sued for $1.5 million by Bettie Whitaker in 1999 for leaking roofs and windows according to the Orlando Business Journal. That’s a lot of leaking, but in any case, it’s never been for sale and these photos are about a close as you’re gonna get. I’d love to see what the interior is like. I sure would like to get an invite to one of those fancy soirées they have there. I’d settle for a chance to photograph the darn thing.

see virtual tour: QTVR of Lake Butler taken by Ed Fink of Big Eye in the Sky