WINTER PARK — Where a massive pink Mediterranean estate once stood is now an empty lot with iron gates opening onto a brick driveway.
The home on North Park Avenue in Winter Park needed a lot of work. Instead of renovating, the owners tore it down and put the land up for sale. The 1.94-acre lot on Lake Maitland sold earlier this month for $6.85 million, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.
“We listed it originally at $10.8 million but the problem it was a big home, 20,000-square-foot under air and 25,500 under roof, but sadly, it had no value,” said listing agent Brian Mitnik of Re/Max 200 Realty. “Everybody that looked at it felt it should be torn down. So we tore the house down and at that point got a tremendous amount of interest.”
Mitnki said he believed it was the highest-priced residential lot ever sold in Winter Park. “A lot of people told me I would never get more than five and a half million dollars for it,” he said.
The property was the family home of homebuilder Charlie Clayton’s parents, Joan and Charles Clayton. She died in 2021, and her estate just sold the home.
In 1978, the elder Clayton purchased the original home for $180,000. That structure dated back to 1938.
The family added to the house in 1999, giving it a total of eight bedrooms, nine full bathrooms, five half baths, three kitchens, two garages, huge closets, and more.
“If you look at the pictures, the house from the outside was beautiful, but it was so expensive to renovate, three to four million, and for just another million or two, you could build a new home,” Mitnick said.
Public records show Charlie Clayton submitted the demolition permit application on May 8 and the city approved it on July 17.
The home had some historic stained glass windows, chandeliers, and other items inside.
“Anything that had any kind of value like that was pulled out of that house prior [to demolition,]” Mitnick said. “I don’t know where all of it went, but [Clayton] was very sensitive to saving anything in there that had any kind of value.”
According to public records, the buyers are Mark and Chloe Daley, and as of now, no other permits have been filed for possible construction on the property. Because the lot is on the Winter Park Chain of Lakes, any new permits must be approved by the planning commission.
Michael Rasmussen with Daven Real Estate represented the buyers, who Mitnick says bought a lot in a great location.
“It’s nearly two acres on the most sought-after lake, on Park Avenue, and in walking distance to Park Avenue shops,” Mitnick said.
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