A guide to the Florida getaways of Toronto’s wealthiest
Sixteen sun-seeking Torontonians who call the sunshine state home for at least part of the year
By Iman Sheikh
| January 20, 2016
Vero Beach
Galen and Hilary WestonLoblaw titans
They own a sprawling oceanside house in Windsor, their 168-hectare, 300-home private luxury community. The house has a fountain and neoclassical courtyard.
Palm Beach
Kimberley Newport-Mimran and Joe MimranDesign duo
They bought a three-bedroom, 3,483-square-foot home with a pool in 2011 for $2.14 million.
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John BitoveSatellite radio exec
The Raptors co-founder bought a 10,494-square-foot, eight-bedroom palace in 2002 for $6.3 million. It backs onto a Jack Nicklaus–designed golf course.
Larry TanenbaumChair of MLSE and Kilmer Van Nostrand
The most powerful name in Toronto sports bought a waterfront lot for $21 million in 2008, then had designer-builder to the stars Joe Brennan construct an 8,000-square-foot home with space for Larry and Judy, and their three children’s families.
Julian BhartiMerchant banker
The eldest son of Forbes and Manhattan founder Stan Bharti (and, perhaps most famously, the man who paid $89,000 to smooch Elizabeth Hurley at an Elton John AIDS fundraiser) owns a 3,843-square-foot house with four bedrooms, four and a half baths, a lap pool and a putting green. It’s on the market for $6.5 million.
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Robert JulienInvestor
The CEO of real estate investment firm the Kolter Group bought an oceanside 11,986-square-foot, nine-bed, 10-bath estate for $16.5 million in 2005.
Boca Raton
Jim DeGasperisDeveloper
The president of Con-Strada Construction owns a condo in a seaside resort called Addison on the Ocean, with a private beach, two swimming pools and full-time cabana staff.
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Fort Lauderdale
Mike WekerleChair and founder of Difference Capital, and a CBC Dragon
In 2014, Bay Street’s rock and roll financier bought a $13.4-million, 12,533-square-foot mansion, which was built for the Anheuser-Busch family in 1938. It has six bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and 160 metres of deep-water frontage.
Miami
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George Yabu and Glenn PushelbergSuperstar interior designers
They bought a three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,820-square-foot 1950s bungalow in 1997 for $365,000, and renovated extensively.
Stephan WeishauptFounder of the Avenue Road interior design store
He bought this 1932 art deco house on Biscayne Bay for $1.74 million in 2013. It has five bedrooms and five and a half baths over 4,128 square feet, and is the site of a bash for designer types during Art Basel every year.
Rana and Richard FloridaCreative Class personalities
After the market meltdown, they pounced on this 1,800-square-foot, two-bedroom, three-bathroom Miami Beach condo on Biscayne Bay.
Christine RalphsFashion designer
The co-founder of Club Monaco and current co-owner of Lloyd Ralphs Design has an 800-square-foot cabana-style condo with ocean views in Surfside. Her business partner, Michelle Lloyd Bermann, lives in a 1,200-square-foot two-bedroom condo with wraparound balconies just steps away.
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(Photographs of Weishaupt courtesy of Avenue Road, Bitove by Vanessa Heins, and Ralphs by George Pimentel; all other portraits by Getty Images. Illustrations by Aleksandar Janicijevic)
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