Castle Mansions of the 1% — Playa Vista Isle
Hillsboro Beach, FL
On a place known as Millionaire’s Mile, you’d expect mega-homes and Playa Vista Isle definitely does not disappoint. This 60,500 square foot castle mansion is found in Hillsboro Beach, FL and its “Beaux-Arts” architectural style takes inspiration, like many castle mansions, on the Palace of Versailles in Paris.
Once known as Le Palais Royal, Playa Vista Isle lies on 4.4 acres of prime Florida property and boasts eleven bedrooms and seventeen bathrooms. Instead of stories, this castle mansion has three “levels” consisting of the Ground Level (their words for a basement), the Main Level, and the Top Level. The floors are all made of Isis white marble imported from South Africa giving the mansion a palatial sheen and those seventeen bathrooms? All bathroom fixtures are made out of 24 karat gold and etched crystal made in Paris. There’s not one but three master suites as well as a presidential suite, and the kitchen has hand-carved mahogany and burl wood cabinetry, while Italian-made gilded bronze and crystal chandeliers dot the property. It also comes equipped with five guest suites, most named after seasons like the Spring Suite, Summer Suite, Autumn Suite, and Winter Suite as well as the Courtyard Suite. The help isn’t left out of the extravagance with their own separate bedrooms and kitchens. They don’t have to leave the house!
In the Grand Hall, at the entryway of this palatial mega-home, the staircase would have to be seen to be believed. By itself, the marble staircase cost two million dollars, which took workmen two years to build. Steel-iron railings with mahogany handrails grace the staircase with its elegance, and the stairs themselves, like the rest of the property, are made with South African Isis white marble. Outside the colossal doorway that had to be forklifted in during construction, the circular driveway serves as the entrance to Playa Vista Isle with a 26 foot tall fountain plated in gold-leaf.
Playa Vista Isle was built by Robert Pereira, founder of Massachusetts based construction company Middlesex Corp. He originally set out to build a “modest” 13,000 square foot home on the property but then ballooned to what is now 60,000 square feet. It took almost a decade to build this dream property from 2006 through the Great Recession all the way to 2015. The land was originally appraised for $40 million and the total construction cost ended up to be $75 million. Mr. Pereira ultimately sold the property so he could sail around the world on his yacht.
Good thing too (if you had millions to spend on a home) because it’s the amenities that sets this castle mansion from all the rest. There’s a gym, a spa, a massage room, a game room, a putting green, a his/her office, private jacuzzies in the master suites, a sitting room adjoining one of the master suites, and a subterranean garage, complete with underground driveway, that can house thirty vehicles. Any dog would be lucky to be owned by the owner of this mega-home as Playa Vista Isle has its own air-conditioned canine room!
The amenities don’t stop there. The living room with a customary 3D television set has a 1,300 gallon fish tank with live corral and fish already swimming in it. For movie buffs, Playa Vista Isle doesn’t just have a movie theater, it has the first ever private IMAX theater inside with a gigantic 50 x 23 foot screen with seating for eighteen lucky people. A colonnaded walkway with a bridge on top of it leads you to the 4,500 square foot infinity edged pool, which has six cascading waterfalls and for the kids, a double loop LED backlit waterslide. The pool has a fire pit in the middle if it gets chilly in Florida and there’s a swim up bar for the adults.
Phase II of the property brought more luxury to the grounds with the addition of two 3,000 square foot guest houses and an extra pool just because and a new ground level basement with an “underground party zone” including an ice skating rink, a go-kart track, a bowling alley, and “nightclub” space. These extra amenities jacked up the price from the already dizzying original price of $139 million to the then listing price of $159 million dollars.
But it’s not over yet. What really sets Playa Vista Isle apart is what’s around the property. Out front, past the breezy road that leads to this dream property, there’s a 492 foot private dock for the owner’s yacht that lies on the Intracoastal Waterway. And on the back, this ultra castle mansion has its very own beachfront. Playa Vista Isle is a beachfront property with a 465 foot long stretch of beach and views overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Who wouldn’t want a beach for a backyard!
It’s even prepared for the worst Mother Nature throws at it. This mega mansion can withstand Category 5 hurricanes and its secret lies in its construction. No flimsy foundation here, Playa Vista Isle is built on 350, 150 foot long concrete pilings struck into the ground and its walls and roof are all made of poured concrete. A generator room in the Ground Level provides backup power. Even in a storm you could live in luxury explains Tom Murphy, the builder of Playa Vista Isle. “You could use the pool, have the air conditioning running, throw a party, host an event, have the catering kitchen, and be quite comfortable,” he said.
For those who were itching to buy the property, you would have been in luck because it sold for a massive discount! Teavana cofounder Andrew Mack got an incredible $115 million discount on the beachfront property with a closing price of only $42.5 million. At that price, even the mere rich could have afforded to live the Florida beachfront life at Playa Vista Isle!
