The owners of 42 Star Island, a couple featured on reality television show the “Real Housewives of Miami,” have opened their home, which the Historic Preservation Board of Miami Beach voted last week to attempt to preserve, to the Miami Herald in order to show that the mansion is not worth saving.
Leonard and Lisa Hochstein have already filed the necessary paperwork to move ahead with the demolition of the house, which they bought in a foreclosure auction last year, the Herald said.
The Hochsteins want to tear down the home and replace it with a new 14,000 square-foot mansion with a five-car garage, but the preservation board’s move to protect the home could imperil their plans. As it stands, the 1925 home is built in a “railroad” format, with no hallways between bedrooms, the Herald said.
And even beyond the difficult room arrangement, the home is in disrepair, Leonard Hochstein said.
“There’s absolutely nothing holding this home together.” [Miami Herald] –Guelda Voien