Dallas investor Robert Haas and his wife Candice named the home they built on a Caribbean island “Oliver’s Cove,” after the first of their many rescue dogs. The guesthouse is named after Elmer, another canine family member.
The couple, who spend 60 to 90 days every year on their roughly 6½-acre estate on the island of Parrot Cay in Turks and Caicos, likes to bring two of their dogs with them each time to the house, which has an outdoor dog run with a fountain. But after many years, the Haases, who also have homes in Dallas and Malibu, Calif., have decided to put the property on the market for $48 million, citing the fact that all three of their human children now live on the West Coast.
As for the dogs, “I haven’t had the heart to tell them that we’re selling,” quipped Mr. Haas, 67, who became known in the 1980s for his leveraged buyouts, particularly a deal that combined Dr Pepper Co. and Seven-Up Co. More recently, he has published several books (one of them—“Miracle Man: 100 Days with Oliver”—was inspired by the property’s namesake).
With nearly 800 feet of beach frontage, the property includes a roughly 7,000-square-foot main house with four bedrooms, five full bathrooms and one half bath. Clad in coral stone with a cedar-shingle roof, the main house also has a fitness room and a two-level great room. Outside Mr. Haas’s study there is a Zen garden where he likes to spend time meditating. The guesthouse next door, nicknamed “Elmer’s Bay,” measures almost 2,500 square feet, with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Both houses sit on the sand, each with its own pool.
The roughly 1,000-acre private island is the site of the luxury resort Parrot Cay by COMO. Homeowners on the island have access to hotel amenities, such as room service, housekeeping and spa services. Other owners include Bruce Willis, Donna Karan and Christie Brinkley, who is listing her home there for $9 million.
The property is being sold furnished. Building and furnishing a home on a secluded island that has no stores on it “isn’t easy,” said Mr. Haas, who said barges were used to transport construction materials and furnishings.
The property is listed with Nina Siegenthaler and Joe Zahm of Turks & Caicos Sotheby’s International Realty.
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WALL STREET JOURNAL – Real Estate
By Candace Taylor
Oct. 16, 2014 5:18 p.m. ET
Turks & Caicos Real Estate | Caribbean 