My Most Valuable Possessions – What House Will Break Counters?

The most expensive property in the world is located not in any European or American city, but in the up-and-coming Port Royal in Naples, Florida, where luxury residences have emerged in recent decades.

However, it seems that no one has access to the resort-sized property, which covers about 9 acres, which includes three houses, a private garden and a marina. He wants to break all records by selling it for $ 295 million, the highest price ever. Registered in the United States.

It will already break any previous record for the most expensive home sale in the country if it comes close to the asking price, according to Don McKenna of Coldwell Banker Realty, who is marketing the property along with Leighton Candler of the Corcoran Group and Rory McMullen of Savills.

Who are the Donahues after all?

But who are the owners of this property?

Born in Pittsburgh, John Donahue graduated from West Point in 1946 and served in what is now the Air Force until 1950, when he took a correspondence course with Forbes magazine on stock market investing.

In 1955, he and two high school classmates founded the Pittsburgh-based investment management firm Federated Investors. Known today as Federated Hermes, the company is run by Donahue's son, J. Christopher Donahue, and the company has $668.9 billion under management.

They paid $1 million in 1985 for a 4.3-acre lot with nothing on it but a small house.

Over the next decade, the Donahue family acquired nearly 60 acres, where they built a beachfront retreat for themselves and their growing family of 13 children and 84 grandchildren.

The couple began vacationing in Naples, Florida, in the 1970s, and the whole family decided to live there for a year when his father briefly considered moving Federalette from Pittsburgh to Florida, despite the fact that as a money management business, it needed to be in a financial environment. . Their son Bill, 68, who heads the company, told the Wall Street Journal after the deaths of his sons John and Rhodora.

What about the shop?

At Gordon Point, the Donahue family built three family homes at the end of the now filled road
Million dollar homes. They started with a headquarters of about 11,500 square metres. With six bedrooms and a swimming pool. The second house, built around 1990, has an area of ​​about 5,500 square metres. With five bedrooms and an outdoor pool. Around 2013, a third house of similar dimensions was added with an outdoor pool and a T-shaped marina accommodating about six boats.

The Donahues' holdings also included part of Keewaydin Island, a marine barrier island accessible only by boat.

In addition to family gatherings of up to 100 people, Bill Donahue said his parents hosted the likes of former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush. “Of course we nicknamed the suite they stayed in ‘Presidential.’ There were events with golfer Arnold Palmer and lunches for lawmakers, including former Gov. Jeb Bush.

First moves to sell

In recent years, the family began thinking about putting the Naples property up for sale. In 2019, they sold the Keewaydin property and part of their Gordon Pointe property for more than $45 million, said CBRE's Robert McEwan, who was handling the sale at the time.

Bill Donahue stated that after his parents died, it was time to sell the band. Although he lives in Pittsburgh, he and most of his siblings have their own homes in Naples, and some live there permanently. The family also owns a farm of about 500 acres in Pennsylvania, where family members also gather.

As for real estate decisions, they are taken by the company’s management, as each brother has a seat on the board of directors.

Is he going to make a record?

The current record for home sales in the United States was set in 2019 when Ken Griffin of Citadel purchased a home
A penthouse on Billionaires' Row in Manhattan for about $240 million. Real estate in Los Angeles
Casa Encantada was listed last year for $250 million — today it's priced at $195.
Millions. Like a penthouse on New York's Billionaires' Row that was listed for $250 million in 2022, it's now listed at $195 million.

The size and location of the Donahue property, with several yards of gulf frontage as well as Gordon Pass and Naples Bay, plus the presence of a marina, justify the high asking price, along with the fact that it will be difficult to find a property like this again, the brokers said.

Despite hurricanes like Ian in 2022, homes sustained minimal damage, which does not diminish their value. “Anyone who buys anything near that price range will do what they want next,” brokers told the Wall Street Journal.

The importance of the region

Naples, long an affluent area, has seen property values ​​skyrocket in recent years. The $62 million sale in 2022 was a record for the city, so one can only imagine the impact a record sale of a resort-like home would have on even a younger area.

In Port Royal, it is difficult to find a home for less than $10 million. “Some of the richest billionaires have homes there, and several have even invested $200 million to buy land and build homes. Interest in the area is also evident in the fact that in the past 45 days, two homes have gone under contract in the Port Royal area – each on less than an acre -, One for $30 million and the other for $34 million.

source: after that