By Penny Nail, Real Estate
Editor
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| The morning parlor with view of Coral Harbor |
The recently completed home of William Randolph Kane III is
now for sale. Niles Chair is the agent and said the asking price would never be
disclosed.
It has 46 rooms and one bedroom. Amenities include a home
theater with a 5-story screen that seats 38 average Americans, a 6-car garage
with ample room for the Bugatti SUV and the 4-wheel-drive Lamborghini that is
included in the asking price and an infinity pool that gets its name from the
number of water trucks required to keep it topped off.
Next to the 175,000-gallon cistern is a gorgeous,
fully-stocked, mahogany-paneled, temperature-controlled wine and mojito cellar.
Some of the mojitos date from the early 2000s. Of course the helipad and de-sal
plant are standard for any new construction. The jumpy house built into the
deck is a delightful surprise. Although the 130-foot drop over the railing may
be a problem.
The house has a backup generator and a backup-backup generator
and a backup-backup-backup generator with a storage bank of 192 batteries to
make sure there will never be an outage except on the rare occasions when WAPA
is out.
The 360° view
includes a close-up view of the 130-foot wall behind the house that was required
when the site was carved from Bordeaux Mountain… still it is a 360° view. Also it’s walking distance to the beach. Of course all houses on St. John are “walking
distance to the beach” if you have the time.
Unfortunately, Mr. Kane’s wife, Rosebud, is deathly
afraid of certain birds. “They fly in from everywhere and are so frighteningly demanding! I know they are after blood!” No amount of
pleading, cajoling and explaining by William Randolph could budge her from her
conviction that banaquits were vicious, flying monsters. “They have those long
sharp beaks and just sit and stare at me,” she said. “I want to go home to
Beverly Hills!” and left the island immediately. (Evidently she didn’t mean the
Beverly Hills on the south side of St. Thomas.)
The only disadvantage to the home is that it will be
directly under the take-off pattern for the new St. John International Airport.
Of course the planes could be required to turn off their engines during takeoff
while over St. John.
