Located on a private driveway off McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers, one that cuts between Coconut Drive and Braman Avenue, a 10,000-square-foot luxury home could be one for the record books.
Listed at $15.9 million, it could become the highest-priced home to sell on mainland Lee County. It could exemplify the hot real estate market that prompted owners Herbert and Gabi Baum to enlist Coldwell Banker Global Luxury agents Lori Fowler and Damon Vetere in selling it.
“It’s architecture meeting art,” said Fowler, who gave Gulfshore Business a tour of the home. “All this marble from Italy. He picked wood for the cabinetry from Germany. Look at the kitchen cabinet doors. No handles. It’s about space and efficiency. You’ll never see an air conditioning vent. They’re all hidden in the crown molding.”
Sales of homes that cost $50 million or more climbed by 35% in 2021 from 2020, with 40 such properties selling last year, according to data compiled by the Wall Street Journal.
In a separate article, the WSJ featured the Fort Myers home on Jan. 12.
Fowler’s livelihood as a real estate agent has been boosted by the state of the market. She had a hand in closing more than $40 million worth of properties last year, she said.
Homes costing $10 million or more were hot commodities in Southwest Florida. Three such homes sold last year in Lee County. All of them were on Captiva or Sanibel islands.
In Collier County? A much different story, with 59 such homes selling last year, according to data pulled by real estate agent Denny Grimes.
Grimes brokered the Coconut Drive home sale in July 2008. That’s when the Baum family, which owns Haus of Trikes & Bikes off Fowler Avenue in Fort Myers, purchased the 2-acre property for $2.75 million. The Baums razed the original house, keeping only some of the original bricks that are now inside the climate-controlled wine cellar. The Baums then spent four years building the new house, which has marble flooring imported from Italy and sandstone imported from Mexico.
The house has four bedrooms, six full bathrooms and three half bathrooms. It is flanked by a seven-car garage, with four stalls on the north side and three on the south side. The home has a circular driveway with a fountain in the middle and a detached, 2,000-square-foot guest house.
The main home’s backyard has a 75,000-gallon pool with lap lanes and a mosaic of a lotus flower at the bottom. There are 170 feet of Caloosahatchee riverfront with a covered boat dock. There’s a Jacuzzi.
Other amenities include smart technology, a security system, an upstairs workout room, a soundproof home theater and a pool table.
