With two separate homes on a single lot, a property for sale in the ultra-luxurious Miami Beach enclave of Star Island has two distinct personalities. On one side is a 100-plus-year-old Mediterranean Revival-style home designed by prominent Miami architect Walter DeGarmo, a throwback to the Roaring 20s. On the other hand, a brand new, modern glass house is a nod to Miami’s recent influx of the international super-rich. The asking price for both? Cool $90 million.
If sold at that price, the property will be the most expensive residential property ever sold in the Miami area, surpassing a $75 million purchase by hedge fund Ken Griffin last month.
The owner, dental products entrepreneur John Jansheski, bought the DeGarmo home in 2011 for $10.75 million, he said. Then, in 2014, he physically moved it about 150 feet to make way for the larger, modern home.
The property includes a modern house designed by the architectural firm SAOTA and a 1920’s Mediterranean house.
Photo:
LPG/ONE Sotheby’s International Realty
There are only about 30 homes on Star Island, all with direct water frontage and views of Biscayne Bay. Celebrities and the super-rich are drawn to its remote location; It is connected to South Beach by a causeway and has a manned gatehouse at the entrance.
Mr. Jansheski first became aware of the island on a boat trip more than a decade ago, when he spotted the then-home of basketball star Shaquille O’Neal from the water. He’d noticed the property had a for sale sign and a basketball court, but didn’t know who owned it. Later, when he enlarged a photo he took of it, he noticed a Shaquille O’Neal bobble-head toy on the dock. Mr. Jansheski, who lived mostly in Tennessee but had a vacation home in Sunny Isles Beach, said Mr. O’Neal’s house was too expensive for him at the time. Instead, records show it was sold to Russian-born hotel magnate Vladislav Doronin, owner of resort brand Aman.
The living room of the newer house opens to the pool.
LPG/ONE Sotheby’s International Realty
The dining room of the newly built house.
LPG/ONE Sotheby’s International Realty
A stair design was inspired by a heeled shoe.
LPG/ONE Sotheby’s International Realty
The wine store offers space for up to 1,400 bottles.
LPG/ONE Sotheby’s International Realty
The kitchen of the house designed by SAOTA.
LPG/ONE Sotheby’s International Realty
When the property next door went on the market a few years later, Mr. Jansheski had just sold an interest in his Knoxville-based company DenTek Oral Care for about $110 million, so he jumped at the opportunity to purchase the DeGarmo-designed home.
He originally thought of tearing it down to make way for his modern dream home, but there were obstacles in the way. For one, his friend and neighbor Leonard Hochstein, a well-known plastic surgeon, was mired in a battle over plans to demolish a nearly 90-year-old mansion on his own property. Mr. Jansheski didn’t want to get involved in a similarly messy and expensive legal battle, he said. There was also the issue of Mr Jansheski’s mother, whom he described as a “full-blooded Calabria Italian” who had fallen in love with the Mediterranean-style house.
The Mediterranean-style Walter DeGarmo home dates from the 1920’s.
Photo:
LPG/ONE Sotheby’s International Realty
To make room for the new house, Mr. Jansheski had the 1920’s house moved to a different part of the site.
Photo:
J. Pat Carter/Associated Press
When someone suggested moving the house instead, they didn’t quite understand what that might mean, he said, and had visions of the house rolling down the embankment. But after some research, he began to think it was a possibility.
Ultimately, the nearly 7,000 square foot home was lifted in one piece on 19 hydraulic swivel wheels and rolled across the site. Mr. Jansheski said he ended up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to move the property just about 150 feet.
After the move, Mr. Jansheski invested even more in the home, giving it a completely new interior and systems, and reconfiguring it from six bedrooms to just three, with a New York loft-style master suite on the second floor. His mother stays there when she comes to visit, he said.
For the new home, Mr. Jansheski commissioned South Africa-based architecture firm SAOTA to design an 8-bedroom glass mansion of nearly 18,000 square feet. Features include a wine bar with about 1,400 bottles, a spa with a massage room, a large wrap-around pool, and a hair salon. There’s also a separate gym and “office cabana.”
Mr Jansheski said he now lives in Miami and the Star Island lifestyle suits him well, he said. A former sailor, he has a passion for fitness and practices Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. “I like to run, then jump in the water and swim,” he said. “I swim down to the Hochstein house, try not to get hit by a jet ski, come out, rinse off and have a cold bath or sauna,” he said.
He said he’s listing the house because it seems like a prescient timing to do so. The Miami market has hit record highs and Star Island has seen a series of big sales. Celebrity buyers include Mr. Griffin, who has amassed numerous properties on the island, and Robert J. Pera, the young tech billionaire who owns the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies.
Listing Agent is Alyssa Morgan of ONE Sotheby’s International Realty, who is also Mr Jansheski’s ex-wife. She said about a third of homes on the island have been traded since 2019.
“It’s crazy what happened,” said Mr. Jansheski. “There is no rush to sell. It’s an interesting experiment, to be honest. In order not to play with it now, I would always ask myself.”
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