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Subscribe to RSSMiami mogul David Siegel and his wife, Jackie, give a tour of their massive dream home, under construction again after a hiatus following the 2008 economic nosedive.
For a Florida time-share mogul and his wife, size does matter.
After the economic crisis of 2008 caused the couple’s dream home in Windermere, Fla., to go into foreclosure and forced an overleveraged David Siegel to put it on the market, building has resumed on what is to be the largest privately owned home in America.
An estimated three more years of construction lies ahead to finish the modern palace dubbed “Versailles’’: a 90,000-square-foot mansion that will include a 30-car garage, 10 bathrooms, a homework room, a roller rink, three pools, two tennis courts and a bowling alley. There is also a grand ballroom with a ceiling high enough to fit a four-story building inside.
Siegel, 77, and his wife Jackie, 47, gave NBC’s Janet Shamlian a tour of the work in progress in a segment that aired on TODAY Friday.
“We never set out to build the biggest house in America,’’ Jackie said. “It just kinda happened.’’
The saga of the home’s construction has been chronicled in the book “The High-Beta Rich’’ by CNBC’s Robert Frank, as well as in the award-winning documentary film “The Queen of Versailles,’’ which made the couple a symbol of outsize spending, debt and real estate in America. Siegel, who owns timeshare resort firm Westgate Resorts, filed a lawsuit against the filmmakers claiming the movie unfairly portrayed his business, but the case was dismissed.
On TODAY, Siegel told Shamlian that he would not have agreed to do the film if he knew then what he knows now. However, Jackie, who is pursuing a reality show, said she still would have participated.
“But what I would have done differently (in the documentary) if I had known so many millions of people would be seeing it is I would have worn more makeup,’’ Jackie joked.
While the nation still struggles with an unemployment rate just below 8 percent, Siegel said he has recovered from the economic crash and that his company has resumed enough profitability to enable him to complete Versailles.
In the fall, Siegel made national headlines when he sent an email to his employees saying that if President Barack Obama were re-elected and raised Siegel’s taxes, he would be forced to fire workers and downsize his company.
Siegel, a staunch Republican, denied intimidating his workers into voting for Mitt Romney because their jobs might be at stake. "I can't tell anyone to vote," he told Frank in an interview. “I want my employees to be educated on what could happen to their future if the wrong person is elected."
As for Siegel’s future, he and his wife, who have eight children, are planning on living in the mansion once it’s completed and are not building it just to sell it.
“We are finishing it to actually finish it, but we do want to live there,’’ Jackie said.
In the meantime, the two have been living in a home that is a two-minute drive away from Versailles. Their current house is 26,000 square feet and has 15 bedrooms, four kitchens, and closets bigger than many New York City apartments.
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The original residents of the real versailles? got thier heads chopped off.
At least THEY offered the "little people" some cake. This guy just laid them off while he builds this "house".
Let him build two as long as he pays his taxes. Talk about being a snob.
That house is hideous!
They are HIDEOUS!!!!!
Okay. Here is ONE example of trickle-down. I don't object to uber-rich per-se, but rather to the fact that 99.9% of their annual intake goes OUT of the real economy and just adds to the equity bubble. Where is the buying power supposed to come from to bring about a recovery? At least these folks are dumping money back into our economy....
I wonder how many millions they will spend on "art" to hang on the wall in this monstrosity?
There's one job at least, hanging their paintings
You mean the $1 over minimum wage house servants.
That house is hideous!
Dont complain about someone who is making it in life, just complain when your welfare check is late.
He is not making it in my version of life, he showed in the documentary that he is the most miserable person on the planet. Having a bunch of money is not going to change that...
You mean a good example of strong arming, cheating, and fixing presidential elections to make a buck. Bill, is this guy your hero?
One again we are reminded - Money cannot buy class.
The Beverly Hillbillies had more class than these people.
This is Honey Boo Boo with a billion dollars.
The guy will probably be dead before it's finished.
I never heard how many people he laid off because Obama got elected.
I can certainly tell that Obama has just been HORRIBLE for this guy. He's barely got a pot to piss in.
They don't know how the house got that big? It "just happened." Talk about being out of touch when you have a boatload of money!
Also, let's do the math. He's 77. She's 47. The house will take 3 more years to complete. He'll be 80. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who'll be wandering around all those rooms with her next trophy husband.
You don't think he's going to be doing a lot bowling, and ballroom dancing, and doing laps in his three pools?
Maybe he can pay someone to bowl for him?
Her gigolo is going to have a blast, though.
Fake Feisty seems to be batting zero today.
To all the emotionally choked up T-party supporters of this glob of blubber, who says he earned it?
He is not an example of capitalism, he is an example of organized crime. This scam artist is a pathetic embarrassment to America and should be treated like one. No wonder the rest of the world hates us if this is the best the Republican Party can throw out as an American hero (of course, they did find Romney...).
The FBI should Investigate this turd until they figure out what the true nature of his toilet life really is, then put him in with the big boys for the rest of his creepy life. She can just go back to the streets where she came from.
Closest thing to Tammy and Jim since the 70's...LMAO...
Not surprised he made his money in timeshares, legalized and protected theivery
It doesn't look like he put a lot of money into the architectural design, just a lot of room and at least one of everything! Hopefully he already has his car collection in order, or that may be the next big project. It's funny sometimes who makes the real money. Timeshares? What good does that line of work accomplish? Sure it creates some jobs, but people who buy timeshares usually end up feeling more like victims than customers.
So he had to stop building in 2008 and nearly lost the home in foreclosure because of the Bush economy
Now he can resume building because his company is making money again in the Obama economy.
I wonder if the light bulb will ever go on in his clouded brain.
Ludwig II the gay king of Bavaria wanted to live in a fairy tale palace and nearly bankrupted his kingdom building a copy of Versailles. The Bavarians had him drowned.
Siegel is clearly a man who needs to be taught fear, unfortunately in his case the lesson will most likely cost him his life when he meets one of his victims and learns he gave them revenge as the only means of regaining their dignity.
By the way Google his company, the film was incorrect in that they were too easy on the despot.
If ever an alien, evolved in technology and sensibility, landed on planet earth and met these people and their home this is what he/she/it would report back to his/her planet:
Planet Earth, Solar System of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way.
Met Tribe: USA.
Most Enlightened Beings Among Them: Two human-like creatures with all kinds of facial surgeries who love to buy and build big, and get on something called "Reality" Shows.
Communication Style: Excessive focus and exuberance over a "house".
The House: Looks like a large palace that were once built by their brutal stupid ancestors in the dark ages (to establish power, show off and for opulence) that we learned about in our history books about these people.
Purpose: No purpose...Meaningless life of indulgence or over-indulgence, no taste, no classiness and no soul.
Conclusion: No need to explore this planet, no need to bring anybody here and no need to make contact.
One Liner Classification: Fools!
As the alien zips out of our planet and solar system he/she/it hears in back "USA, USA, USA, USA...."
I have built some very large homes as a framer/builder/general contractor over the past forty years.
Two things I know for certain: Nobody needs that much square footage and no amount of makeup is going to help!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just sayin!!!
If Jackie Siegel is a beauty queen then I'm still 35 and in the best shape of my life instead of 62 and disabled. What a joke (!!!) to call her beautiful.
The house shows that rich people aren't that smart either. 90,000 sq/ft is 30 very good sized homes. What nonsense.....
This is an example of the misguided delusion of what constitutes 'earning success'. The fact is that this douchebag would layoff employees, cut their hours or benefits rather than absorb any additional taxes from company profits. i.e. Johnny loses his time-share sales job because Siegel needs a 30 car garage instead of a 20 car garage. This is not 'earning' anything, this is just a little notch above slavery.
Watching the documentary about these two & their family was truly fascinating, leaving me primarily just feeling sorry for them--mostly for the children. The take-aways I got from watching them are that 1) money doesn't buy class, 2) a re-affirmation of just how important family is vs. material objects (a lesson they've yet to learn, if the film was any indication of their true nature), and 3) those who try to fill major emotional voids they have in their lives with material things will never find peace.
How they spend their money is their business; if they want to build this house & fill it with the [horribly tacky] pieces they have in storage waiting for the home's completion, that's their right through and through. No one has any right to say otherwise as to how these two should spend their money (i.e., homes for others, benefits for their employees, etc.) any more than these two have the right to walk into your home & tell you how to spend your money--whatever amount that may be. You & your spouse spent $50 on dinner last night? You could've eaten at McDonald's for $10 and used the extra $40 to feed ten homeless folks. But you didn't--and you spent it how you did because it's YOUR money. Just like this is THEIR money to spend as they wish.
That's the wonderful thing about a free country. He can do whatever he wants to do with his own money. I am surprised by the number of comments of people thinking it's their money and he should pay it in more taxes. The taxes needs to be raised on the masses who are asking for bigger and bigger government and more "free" lunches.
As long as they don't tell the peasant neighbors to "eat cake" or something worse, then they won't have the villagers at the gates with pitchforks and spears looking to have their heads on a platter, LOL! Little versailles, that's like saying the Titanic could never sink and we all know what happened there! Austentaciousness to the max. vulgarity beyond being vulgar. Seen the pics and I guess they will be working the power grid overtime, don't see any solarpanels anywhere. Suppose we too will be paying for their lifestyle of luxury so they can live better than you or I do.