At some point I'm going to stop explaining what Star Island is and just assume that everyone knows it's a tiny, man-made island in the waters of Miami that is home to billionaires and celebrities. There are roughly 30 mansions on Star Island. The AVERAGE value for a home on Star Island is $29.6 million.
Celebrities who currently own, or who have previously owned Star Island mansions include:
- Diddy
- Gloria Estefan
- Rosie O'Donnell
- Shaquille O'Neal
- Don Johnson
Star Island should be fresh in your head if you are a regular reader of Celebrity Net Worth. Two weeks ago we wrote an article about a Star Island property that had just sold for $75 million. The most stunning aspect of that story was the fact that the home is a total tear-down. So whoever the buyer was had to be rich enough to spend $75 million essentially for some oceanfront dirt. That's $75 million before spending presumably tens of millions more to construct a new palace.
It turns out the buyer was hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, whose $28 billion net worth certainly should give him the necessary clearance to cover all future mortgage and construction costs 🙂
Griffin's $75 million Star Island purchase set the record for most-expensive home ever sold in the Miami area. Hopefully Mr. Griffin is not too hung up on owning that record because a property just up the street has hit the market with an asking price of…
$90 million
The recently-listed property, located at 27 Star Island, actually features TWO homes. As you'll see in the video below, the "back" house is a 7,000 square-foot Spanish-style home with three bedrooms that is just under 100 years old. The "front" house is a brand new 20,000 square-foot modern mansion with six bedrooms.
There's a gym on the water, a massage room, pool, cabana, hair salon and 100 feet of ocean frontage.
Ignore the bland default thumbnail below. This video is worth your time:
A Dental Fortune
The seller is a man named John Jansheski. John bought the property in 2011 for $10.75 million.
At the time he purchased the property, the 1920s Spanish-style home was actually situated waterfront. But as you can see from the above video, the Spanish-style home is now in the back of the property. How did that happen?
John initially wanted to tear down the old mansion. He lost his nerve after learning that another neighbor, plastic surgeon Leonard Hochstein, had spent years battling neighbors and the city for the right to tear-down his 90-year-old mansion a few doors away. CNW readers may recognize the name Leonard Hochstein because he and his wife Lisa Hochstein starred on several seasons of "The Real Housewives of Miami."
So John Jansheski got creative.
In 2014, John paid what had to be an ungodly amount of money to have the original Spanish-style home lifted up by the foundation and physically moved 150 feet to the back of the property.
Don't believe me? Here's a time-lapse video of the house being moved:
In the second half of the above video you can also see the new modern mansion under construction.
Who is John Jansheski and how did he get so rich?
The Jansheski family fortune has a pretty amazing origin story. You know those little plastic dental picks with a piece of floss pre-loaded for easy use? John's dad invented them.
John's father, John Sr., invented and patented the original product which he called the "Dental Pik." Next time you're in the tooth-care aisle of the drug store, you'll see Dental Pik brand floss picks.
John parlayed that single invention into dental product empire called DenTek. Today DenTek is one of the world's largest manufacturers of floss picks, mouth guards, tongue cleaners and more. It is the largest company that exclusively makes oral care products in the United States. The company sells over two billion dental floss picks every year.
One more fun fact: John's ex-wife Alyssa Morgan is the home's listing agent. Happy to see ex-couples getting along 🙂
So now you know! Flossing not only prevents cavities, it can also make someone a fortune!
