2600 Gordon Drive (Naples, Florida)

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2600 Gordon Drive ( goo.gl/maps/jtrNK )

Not much to see from the road but from the public beach this is a classic Naples beach mansion. The fourth house south of "White Sands" - and next door to the former Peter Thomas estate at 2658 Gordon Drive, which is located one house to the south (the one that looks like a small Scottish castle).

2600 Gordon Drive is owned by Richard D. Merillat who took over his father's Michigan based kitchen cabinet business, which was founded in 1946 and became America's largest. Privately owned Merillat Industries was sold in 1985 to Masco Corporation for $144 million and Richard Merillat stayed on as President of the Merillat division. Like a number of residents of Port Royal the Merillats have a passion for horses and philanthropy. In 1996 they donated their world renowned Merillat Quarter Horse Farm to Michigan State University. The Merillat's philanthropy is focused on education and Christian charities. (see links below)

Philanthropy:
www.huntington.edu/About/Board-of-Trustees/
Merillat Foundation
www.eri-nonprofit-salaries.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=NPO...
orville-d-ruth-a-merillat-foundation.idilogic.aidpage.c...
Lenawee Christian Ministries
www.xpastor.org/web_ads/ad_archive/lenawee.html
Christian Family Center
www.christianfamilycentre.org/AboutUs/tabid/425/Default...

More on Richard Merillat & Merillat Industries:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Merillat
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merillat_Industries
www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/merillat-indu...

Merillat in the news:

Petition to protest Naples Philharmonic's name change "We collected our 10,000 signatures in 12 days and it's now close to 11,000 signatures" Merillat said: www.fox4now.com/news/local/208862871.html

Collier’s Top 10 water users from April 2006 through March 2007 (totals in gallons):
Number 7 - Richard Merillat, 2600 Gordon Drive, Naples, 3,917,000 Gallons. The Merillat estate is home to four washing machines and three dishwashers. On any given day, as many as 10 people may be living in the 18,000-square-foot main house and 3,000-square-foot guest house.

www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/jun/09/special_report_who_...

Other Merillat Homes:
2595 Sanderson Rd East Jordan, MI ( goo.gl/maps/Ch0BN )

Former Owners:

Property previously owned by Canadian founders of Oxford Properties and PCL construction (Love family) ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Properties ) through a series of holding companies. Oxford, after going public in the nineties was sold for $4b in 2001 to a pension fund for government employees www.kingsettcapital.com/aboutus-teamprofiles.php