Turn onto Christmas Lake Road in Greenwood, Minnesota, and you’re almost there. Hidden in plain sight on St. Alban’s Bay on Lake Minnetonka, a $15 million home is on the market now complete with its own fancy garage that includes a car wash. When you have the funds to purchase a multi-million-dollar property, it seems that dealing with the rest of the world isn’t necessary. One would imagine that owners could afford a set of full-time employees to chamois off any high-end vehicles by hand.
Four stories high with nearly 14,000 square feet of living space, the mansion was commissioned by developer Jeffrey Wirth. According to Twin Cities Pioneer Press, Wirth fraudulently put up $5 million of his company’s money to build the mansion in 2004. He was convicted of tax evasion during construction, and the 1.37-acre property sat vacant for three years until Kaskaid Hospitality CEO Kam Talebi snapped it up for a bargain at $1.88 million in 2013.
Inside, you could live a lifestyle of the rich and famous with such niceties as a 12-person theater room, two wine rooms, a fully-equipped gym, and a spa area with a relaxation room, grotto, and sauna. The photos show lavishly decorated rooms that even Talebi reportedly found to be somewhat garish; the walls of the grotto, for instance, resemble a shopping bag from makeup retailer Sephora. The current owner spent around $5 million to finish the home and re-do the interior.
As reported by the New York Post, “[Talebi is] going to scale down the interiors—which were admittedly pretty over the top… but many of the unusual features he’s going to keep,” original developer David Erotas told Artful Living in 2013.
The pièce de résistance is the intricate tunnel system that leads into the mansion. Guests who visit the property are routed over a bridge to the island and routed through one of two tunnels to park their luxury vehicles. The main garage holds eight cars – which, for a house this size, seems somewhat measly, no? – but it is decked out with a number of features. It’s insulated, heated, and includes a floor drain for the car wash. An elevator whisks residents and visitors up to the main house.
For the sake of comparison, there is a $12 million mansion in Montana that has a 50-car garage and a dyno. There’s room for improvement, perhaps.
With a place like this, you could become a hermit and never leave. And hey, more good news: the house has no home owner’s association requirement. Be as eccentric as you like.
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