A nine-acre coastal estate in Naples, Florida, just hit the market with a price tag that would absolutely shatter America’s most expensive home sale record. The list price? $295 million.
The sellers are the descendants of the late financier Jack Donahue and his wife, Rhodora. Jack died in 2017. Rhodora died in 2022. They left behind an astounding 13 children, 84 grandchildren and nearly 200 hundred great-grandchildren. That’s 297 people. In other words, the asking price is right around $1 million per descendant.
If the Donahue estate, which is being marketed as “Gordon Pointe,” gets anywhere above $238 million, it will be the most expensive home sold in US history.
Technically speaking, the current record for the most expensive home sold in US history belongs to Citadel hedge fund founder Ken Griffin. Ken set the record in January 2019 when he paid $238 million for the unfinished top four floors of 220 Central Park South in Manhattan.
However! I would argue that Ken’s “record” purchase doesn’t count since it was four distinct apartments, as opposed to one single home. If you agree, the record for most expensive single-family home sale in history belongs to Jay-Z and Beyonce. The multi-billionaire couple earned the record in May 2023 when they paid $200 million for this 8-acre blufftop Malibu estate:
Via Bing Maps
So, if you agree that that Jay-Z and Beyonce are the rightful owners of the most expensive home record at $200 million, today’s just-listed Naples estate has a $95 million cushion to set a new bar. What does one get for $295 million?
- Nine acres of oceanfront property
- 708 feet of beach frontage
- 950 feet of bay frontage
- An 11,500 square foot primary mansion AND two 6,000+ square foot guest houses.
- 230-foot yacht harbor that fits six boats
Here is a video tour of Gordon Pointe:
Who was Jack Donahue?
The late Jack Donahue earned his fortune as the co-founder of Pittsburgh-based asset management firm Federated Hermes (previously known as Federated Investors). Federated managers around $700 billion in assets and has a market cap of $3 billion.
According to a profile in the Wall Street Journal, Jack and Rhodora first visited Naples, Florida in the 1970s after receiving a cold-outreach brochure in the mail. One day in the 1980s, Jack was flying above Naples in a helicopter when he spotted the undeveloped plot of land that he instantly wanted to own. That land eventually became Gordon Pointe. He paid $1 million in 1985 for the first 4-acre parcel. Within a decade, he expanded the footprint to 60 acres. In 2019, the family sold roughly 50 acres of Gordon Pointe and a property on a nearby island for $45 million.
Here is another video of Gordon Pointe: