Most expensive home in US has competition
NAPLES, Fla. – A posh Port Royal compound in Naples, Florida, has made national headlines as the most expensive home for sale in America.
A story about the listing first appeared in the Wall Street Journal, offered up as an exclusive to the publication by the seller’s agents. News – and marketing – has spread since then to other national and local media.
The price tag for the property:
$295 million.
While it’s technically the most expensive listing for sale, there is another offering that could match it, with the combination of three other legacy properties that hit the market in the same neighborhood last year that would cost the same.
Known as Gordon Pointe, the gated compound stretches a little over
9 acres. It includes about 708 feet of beachfront and Gulf of Mexico views,
952 feet of bay views, an “exclusive and extremely rare” yacht basin, measuring
231 feet and a T-shaped dock for up to six boats.
There is not just one, but three houses on the property, built over time. There is also the potential to redevelop the site, with a larger family compound, or with a “subdivided community for a lucky few,” with at least six houses, according to the selling agents.
The property is currently owned by the Donahue family. A well-known Naples philanthropist, John “Jack” F. Donahue, made his fortune running Pittsburgh-based Federated Investors, which he co-founded in 1955. He died in 2017; his wife Rhodora died in 2022. High school sweethearts, they started amassing the land in the 1980s, which is now in the hands of their many heirs. They had 13 children, and more than 80 grandchildren.
Port Royal has long been known as a playground for the rich.
Nearly a year ago, a waterfront estate in the neighborhood came to market for more than $174 million. A price that was unheard of then. It’s still for sale.
The beachfront property, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, is expansive, stretching more than 8.5 acres, making it a rarity, too.
More of a rarity: Neighboring property is up for sale on both sides, with the potential to carve out an even larger one-of-kind estate on Naples’ highly coveted Gordon Drive. Combined, they would cost $295 million and span more than 15 acres, with 812 linear feet of beach frontage.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the current U.S. home sale record was set in 2019 for a penthouse purchased by Citadel’s Ken Griffin in New York City. He paid $240 million for it.