One of the country’s most expensive homes – a sprawling, heavily gilded Florida mega-mansion inspired by the Palace of Versailles in France – is going up for auction after failing to find a buyer three years ago.
The 58,000-square-foot property in Hillsboro Beach, known as both ‘Le Palais Royale’ and ‘Playa Vista Isle,’ will hit the auction block on November 15 through Concierge Auctions with the eye-watering asking price of $159million.
The palatial property, where Louis XIV himself would have felt right at home, is located at 935 and 939 Hillsboro Mile, which is locally known as ‘Millionaire’s Mile.’
It includes the 30,000-square-foot main residence, which boasts 11 bedrooms; 22 bedrooms; a 3D IMAX theater sitting 18; a temperature- and humidity-controlled, 1,300-bottle wine cellar with a tasting room, and a 20-car garage.
The floors inside the mansion are made of South African marble; all the bathroom fixtures are plated with 22-karat gold from France, and the sumptuous grand staircase leading to the second floor took three years and $2million to design and build.
The mansion sits behind a gilded 12-foot-tall gate on 4.4-acre tract of oceanfront land. The property comes with docking for a pair of mega-yachts; six waterfalls, including a towering 26-foot cascade; a 4,500-square-foot infinity pool with a slide and a lanai bar with beer on tap; a putting green and an outdoor pizza kitchen.
The over-the-top home first went up for sale in September 2014 for $139million, which set a record at the time, but was taken off the market about a year later to undergo an expansion.
The owner, Massachusetts construction magnate Robert Pereira, then increased the asking price by $20million, but pulled the property off the market in 2016.
The initial plan was for Pereira to live at Playa Vista Isle with his wife and daughter, which is why the wealthy businessman had shelled more than $100million on the sumptuous building project, sparing no expense and procuring the finest of everything, from construction materials to decorations and furnishings.
But then the family changed their mind.
Speaking to The Guardian in 2015, real estate agent Mayi de la Vega said the Pereiras travel often, including on board their recently renovated 206-foot-long super-yacht, My Seanna.
Curbed Miami reported that the auction house handling the sale of Playa Vista Isle will start accepting digital bids on November 12. The live auction will take place on November 15.
Share or comment on this article: Versailles-inspired $159M Florida mansion to be auctioned off.
