Lifestyles of The Reich and Famous: Dick and Betsy DeVos' new summer palace

[Bozita]

Amway heir Dick and Betsy DeVos move into sprawling 22,000-square-foot mansion
Published: Wednesday, September 08, 2010, 6:20 AM Updated: Wednesday, September 08, 2010, 11:47 AM
Shandra Martinez | The Grand Rapids Press


HOLLAND -- Amway heir Dick DeVos and his wife, Betsy DeVos, moved into their new digs over Labor Day weekend.

For months, cars have slowed along South Shore Drive as gawkers have followed the construction of the DeVos home, the biggest house in Holland, if not Ottawa County.

"We are very excited with it," said Betsy DeVos, who grew up in Holland as the daughter of the late industrialist Edgar Prince. Her mother, Elsa Prince-Broekhuizen, owns a home a few doors down.

"As our family is continuing to grow, our hope is that it will be a gathering place for many generations," she said.

Their three-story vacation home sets a new standard for size and grandeur among the other million-dollar-plus mansions that line Lake Macatawa, a popular spot with access to Lake Michigan.
The stone and shingle house has 22,000 square feet of space. But if that's not enough room, there's a 6,200-square-foot guest house, plus a large infinity pool with a 700-square-foot pool house and three garages, according to city records.

A long dock is all that remains of 1025 South Shore Drive from the days when DeVos' dad, billionaire and Amway co-founder Richard DeVos, owned his summer spot there. For more than 25 years, the 12,000-square-foot home -- with an 1,100-square-foot guest house -- was the biggest house in Holland.

more...

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/09/amway_heir_dick_and_betsy_devo.html#incart_mce



THE DEVOS PROPERTY: BEFORE & AFTER

PREVIOUS HOME ON THE SITE:
Owner: Richard and Helen DeVos
Main house: 12,000 square feet
Number of bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 8 1/2
Garage: 3-car
Guest house: 1,100 square feet
Value: $4.5 million

NEW HOME ON THE SITE:
Owner: Dick and Betsy DeVos
Main house: 22,000 square feet
Number of bedrooms: 3
Bathrooms: 5 full and 5 half-baths
Garage: 3 buildings
Guest house: 6,000 square feet
Value: Still being assessed; building permits over $3 million

[SteppingRazor]

1. Wait, a 22,000 sq. ft. house with only three bedrooms?

That strike anybody else as kinda weird?

[zipplewrath]

5. Servants quarters

There's all kinds of specialty rooms I'm sure, probably including facilities for large events and meetings. Plus, they probably don't count servants quarters as "bedrooms".

[gratuitous]

6. Especially since it's going to be for their growing family

Boys in one bedroom, girls in the other?

I'm sure, however, now that their humble abode is complete, the DeVoses will get cracking on creating all those jobs they've been meaning to create so that we can justify keeping their tax rates low. No sense in letting the winners actually, you know, pay for the society that has enriched them so much.

[blm]

7. well....let's see...3 bedrooms for a 'growing family'...not quite the honest answer

from duplicitous fascists...no surprise there.

[qb]

2. I can see it now... the nanny standing on the upper eave...

"Look at me, Damien! It's all for you."

[HughBeaumont]

3. Building a pyramid of suckers is hard work, apparently.

[Octafish]

17. Oh, no no no no!

Amway's not a pyramid scheme. It's like a daisy flower, where every petal kicks the cash inward to the central smiley face for, eh, processing to Switzerland.

[HughBeaumont]

18. Amway is where finance schiester Robert Kiyosaki got his start.

http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html

Over time, I have received numerous reports that Kiyosaki is primarily a creature of Amway (now Quixtar) and other multi-level marketing organizations. Reportedly, his books were not selling until he allied himself with that crowd. Then the volume of sales to those MLM guys made him a “best-selling author,” which caused normal non-MLM people to think the book must be good.

[zipplewrath]

4. 6200 sqft "guest house"

That's 4 times the size of my house. What kinda guest needs that much room? Don't they get to come over to the main house?

[crazylikafox]

8. Key word: "heir". Our new aristocracy continues to grow

This wouldn't be so obscene if it were built by an entrepreneur who actually earned his money & contributed something to society.

[corpseratemedia]

9. it's still an ugly looking helium-blown-up mcmansion

[blondeatlast]

10. That's gawdforesaken ugliness on any level I can possibly think of. nt

[Subdivisions]

11. Fuck!

An Amway sponsor promised selling their shit would make me rich and I didn't listen.

[supernova]

12. Design is too turn of the century

for my taste.

Looks like a throwback to the Edwardian era. The curves, the tiny windows, the "rock" foundation. It's as if the last 80 years in design and architecture never happened.

If I had that much money, I would have definitely done something with better design principles.

Bleh.

More proof that having money does not automatically confer good taste.

[Tracer]

13. Elsa Prince-Broekhuizen is the mother of...

Eric Prince. The founder of Blackwater (Xe or some such stupid name).

[Bozita]

15. Eric Prince has moved from the Xtian capital of MI to that Xtian mecca of Dubai

Something to do with a lack of an extradition treaty with the UAE.

[wordpix]

14. blocking lake views & access should be against the law! Environmental degradation on so many levels

and I'm not kidding

[Nuclear Unicorn]

16. Well, we could find cause to celebrate Chelsea Clinton

trickling down all over the wedding and catering industry. I guess carpenters and plumbers and electricians and interior designers need love too.

[leftstreet]

19. oh snap!

:-)