Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Micro mansion hits market in S. Florida
$3.9M residence features spectrum of lights
Imagine being cast in a different light in every room of your house.
That’s the centerpiece theme of real estate developer Frank McKinney’s first “micro mansion,” a 4,087-square-foot home at 19 Tropical Drive in Ocean Ridge. The entire residence is a lighting showcase from a variety of perspectives and lists for $3.9 million.
The kitchen countertops, built with the appearance of rolling ocean waves in them, feature an LED treatment that can change color at the touch of a button. The bar area contains the same sea-glass countertops, plus a wine cooler and ice maker.
In the master bathroom, a rotating spectrum of colors shines when activated in the glass-encased shower to give the water a more vibrant hue. The bathtub is lined with a trim of LED lighting that also changes colors. A glass door from the shower leads to an outdoor terrace, which overlooks the pool area.
More monochromatic light treatment is prevalent outside, surrounding the two pools that appear to be floating on opposite ends of the sun deck. A four-foot deep plunge pool sits on one side while a 5 1/2-foot deep lap pool is stationed on the other.
“There are LED lights that wrap all along the pool so at night the light dances across the water and hits the blue tile and makes it look like it’s illuminated,” McKinney said during a tour of the house on Friday.
The LED treatment is not confined to rooms throughout the house; it’s also in the fish tank.
The 210-gallon living reef aquarium — which means everything in the tank is alive from the fish and cleaner shrimp to the coral — glows in a variety of colors that can be controlled by an app on a smartphone.
One of the more alluring attractions of the tank’s lighting system is a feature called “storm mode.” When activated, the tank darkens to simulate storm clouds rolling on the horizon and the lights flash to resemble lightning strikes.
“It simulates a storm that you’d find in the middle of the ocean,” McKinney said.
McKinney, who specializes in larger mansions, said he’s building the smaller version to meet the demands of his customers looking for an alternative to expensive condominiums while traveling. The home on Tropical Drive, which took roughly 10 months to complete, is less than a quarter of the size of some oceanfront properties McKinney has built.
“I’ve built bedrooms bigger than this house,” he said. “This is a total rewiring of my brand, my approach.”
But the micro mansion is not small on the details.
Driftwood ceramic tile runs throughout the majority of the house, and the home features Schonbeck chandeliers. The backyard is filled with greenery to provide the owner with plenty of privacy.
The first-floor bathroom also possesses unique features. The room has a sink made from blue starfire glass and a hanging light that resembles a jellyfish.
Each of the three bedrooms (two guest and one master) features a different look, highlighted by the master’s hand-painted wall and white wool carpet.
“When I’m designing bigger houses, I really pay attention to every square foot so there’s a ton of detail, but this is [planned] every square inch,” McKinney said.
He also crafted an innovative feature for the air-conditioning system.
“On the stairway leading up to the second floor, the air-conditioning returns are nestled into the front facing part of the step,” he said. “The slits in the stairs are actually the airconditioning returns feeding the air from the first floor and the second floor through the little slits, through the air conditioning and back through the supplies.”
McKinney said he is encouraged by the feedback he has received. He has already purchased another oceanside lot in Palm Beach for a possible sequel.
“I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t think it would work,” he said.
Pasqual Liguori of Premier Estate Properties has the listing.