Historic Star Island home faces demolition

Yet another historic Miami home is facing the wrecking ball. A white mansion at the tip of Star Island, designed by Florida’s first registered architect, Walter deGarmo, will soon make way for a new 20,000-square-foot home.

The husband-and-wife owners, Leonard and Lisa Hochstein, recently won the right to demolish the home after a drawn out legal battle. Leonard Hochstein is a plastic surgeon who, according to the Miami Herald,  calls himself the “boob god.” His wife, Lisa, is a star of reality series “The Real Housewives of Miami.”

The couple’s new home, located at 42 Star Island, will include six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a home theater, a game room, a wine cellar, a five-car garage and a guesthouse.

The pending loss of the historic home is rallying Miami residents to push for strong preservation laws.

“It just shows how pathetic it is that we cannot have the vision . . . to try to protect these homes a little bit better,” Nancy Liebman, a former city commissioner who now heads Miami Beach United, a citywide homeowners organization that supports preservation, told the Miami Herald. [Miami Herald] – Christopher Cameron