3054 Gordon Drive (Naples, Florida)

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3054 Gordon Drive goo.gl/maps/NqRP7

One of the largest homes in Naples, 3054 Gordon Dr. is the third house south of the Port Royal Club. Whether you're driving by on the road goo.gl/maps/BQSAN or walking by on the beach goo.gl/maps/BC4wb , one needs to view this compound from above to fully appreciate its size goo.gl/maps/nje5j

Of all the properties on Gordon Drive there is no question that in an earlier era, this one was the favorite for the children of the local Port Royal residents and Naples. In the sixties and seventies a former owner created his own private marine-land and zoo complete with dolphins including one named Flax, the sister of Flipper, seals, sea lions, miniature horses, panthers, kangaroos, wallabies, deer, sheep, a cheetah, a lion, tortoises and even a pond with a mini-ferry. The original house, the zoo and marine-land are long since gone and in its place is what could well be the most expensive residence on Gordon Drive and an owner who has his own type of zoo, albeit the wild animals don't roam the grounds but instead are stuffed trophies from Safaris and hunting trips.

Owners list:

Lee R.& Katherine Mae (Penny) Anderson purchased for $5.7 million in 1998, demolished the newer 1985 house and built new
Larry Needler purchased in 1985 for $1.5 million, he demolished the original house and built new
Peter H Van Arsdale purchased the house from the bank in 1984 for $1.4 million
William Fahey purchased the property in 1981 for approx $1 million
John H. Slater (founder of Slater Food Systems that he sold to Aramark in 1961) purchased the property in the early sixties and fulfilled his passion for exotic animals and environmental issues

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the current owners, Lee & Penny Anderson purchased this property in 1998 for $5.7 million.

It is among Collier County's 10 largest homes at more than 27,000 total square feet and was in the top ten for water usage reported to be in excess of 3.5 million gallons in a single year. The home was constructed by Newbury North Assoc and construction took more than two years.
This is an look inside the kitchen of their Naples house media.naplesnews.com/media/img/photos/2006/01/28/060105...

www.naplesnews.com/news/2007/jun/09/special_report_who_...
www.naplesnews.com/photos/galleries/2011/aug/27/ten-big...

Business

There is an extensive Wikipedia entry en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_R._Anderson,_Sr. on Mr. Anderson and his billion dollar++ company, the APi Group Inc. http:// www.apigroupinc.com/‎ , which was founded by his father and of which he is the 100% owner. Based in Minnesota, APi through its 20+ subsidiaries, engages in industrial and specialty construction, and life safety services businesses. Anderson has also been an investor in Duluth, Minnesota real estate since 1985 through www.alproperties.com . Lee Anderson is an engineer and West Point graduate accomplished in athletics and a lifelong outdoors-man.

investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snap...

Lee Anderson's You Tube channel
www.youtube.com/channel/UCFdBhHmYPFFWzmaFwblY4Hw

Among the Andersons' many passions, first and foremost is philanthropy, beyond that they collect art, enjoy yachts, own a Croatian winery and hotel, he is Big Game hunter and collects classic wooden boats. They are also passionate about their homes and like them to be spacious. There is the Gordon Drive compound, they own a historic estate at the western end of Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota. One is a Tudor mansion and next door a chateau both seen here in this image goo.gl/maps/FRgjp and then there is the Nisswa Lake compound also in northern Minnesota with its 12,500 sq foot Adirondack style boat house and 20,000 sq ft main house. Within each of these verticals there are anecdotes worthy of sharing. And not to worry that "Bengal" creeping through library of the Gordon Drive house these days is not an escapee from John Slater's (a former owner) menagerie of wild beasts, but an exotic house cat bred to look like a miniature tiger.

Philanthropy and Recognition:

Above and beyond their lifestyle and business achievements the Andersons are among America's most generous philanthropists. As a West Point graduate, Lee Anderson has a particular interest in America's veterans. He has been designated as the 2014 recipient of the Prestigious Horatio Alger Award. www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/minnesota-executive-an... (of interest another owner of this property was also a recipient of this award many decades ago - John Hunter Slater www.horatioalger.org/members_info.cfm?memberid=sla60 )

Lee Anderson receives highest West Point honor
kstp.com/news/stories/s3041219.shtml

$60 million gift to University of St. Thomas
www.stthomas.edu/asc/about/donors/

And Philanthropy runs in the family, Andersons' daughter bid $600,000 for 8 bottles of wine at the 2012 Naples Wine Festival www.marconews.com/news/2012/jan/28/winter-wine-festival...
gulfshorelife.mycapture.com/mycapture/enlargePopup.asp?...

The Lee & Penny Anderson Defenders Lodge – A Hotel for Heroes
www.pscu.com/visions/lee-penny-anderson-defenders-lodge...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpVJzUDbk74‎

AFP 2010 Outstanding Individual Philanthropists Lee & Penny Anderson
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOw9v2uqGXk‎

Lee Anderson on veterans www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbphUok_DtE
minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/10/24/stthom...‎

pineandlakes.com/stories/061511/localnews_20110615002.s...

Naples Wine Festival
www.napleswinefestival.com/trustees.php?id=5
media.naplesnews.com/media/img/photos/2010/01/29/100122...
www.bizapedia.com/ny/WESTERN-STATES-FIRE-PROTECTION-COM...


Art:

The Andersons are avid art collectors but on December 28, 2002 a Monet and Renoir were stolen by thieves who were caught six weeks later in a sting operation right out of a Hollywood movie. More on the theft at these links:

Anatomy of an art theft

www.claudemonetgallery.org/287097/Vetheuil,-vu-de-l%27i...
www.examiner.com/article/anatomy-of-an-art-theft-part-1
www.examiner.com/article/lead-detective-randy-durniak-w...

www.museum-security.org/03/003.html
www.sptimes.com/2003/02/13/news_pf/State/Paintings_fall...
www.examiner.com/article/monet-renoir-thieves-received-...

Yachts

An avid yachtsman, Lee Anderson, 73 recently sold/traded/downsized from his 178' Trinity yacht "Katharine" (named after his wife) to Australian Billionaire Trevor Lee who renamed it Keri Lee III, after his wife. And to keep the irony and confusion of names going, the 138' yacht Lee Anderson got in return from Trevor Lee was renamed from Keri Lee II to Penny Mae (Anderson's wife's name and middle name).

The M/V Penny Mae has recently been based full time in Croatia where the Andersons, whilst on a humanitarian mission developed a great appreciation for the country so much so that they purchased a winery and hotel.

www.yachtsmagazine.com/penny-mae-in-croatia-a-taste-of-...
www.gulfshorelife.com/August-2010/Dream-Boats/
www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/jan/29/1219_million_kids/

The Penny Mae yacht blog
yachtpennymae.wordpress.com

And here is a video and brochure for the Penny Mae - like many yachts they are always for sale and/or available for charter:

www.businessinsider.com/penny-mae-yacht-on-sale-for-114...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMIpOE-5cX4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gFVZGBDAII
www.superyachts.com/syv2/profile-pdf-brochure/penny-mae...


Croatian Winery and hotel

The Andersons' Croatian winery and hotel

lh6.ggpht.com/-tMGUMgt6U_s/UH2aQzYth0I/AAAAAAAAACA/uSQY...

www.winerist.com/wineries/dubrovnik-dalmatia/korta-kata...
www.kortakatarinawinery.com/‎

twitter.com/KortaKatarina


Nisswa Lake, Minnesota - Adirondack style Boat House - Classic wooden boat collection

Watching this short video of Lee Anderson talking about and driving this classic boat and it is understandable how one might get hooked on these floating works of art. i.imgur.com/TiluViD.jpg


www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTkSzwBi1-g

His passion for these spectacular vessels began in 1985 when he purchased his first. This is the Andersons' home in Nisswa, Minnesota (Northern Minnesota) including a 20,000 sq ft main house and a separate 12,500 sq ft guest quarters and "Boat House" binged.it/1bhQvUD on Nisswa Lake. i.imgur.com/rYGUncZ.jpg

The boat house is actually a type of museum where he displays his fleet as well as trophies from another passion, Big Game Hunting (see below).

The inspiration for the boat house came from upstate New York in the Adirondacks from the era of the robber barons and their "Great Hunting Camps". To accomplish the perfect design, a team was dispatched to Lake Placid, New York to find the ideal trees, which would help to achieve the forest like ambiance Anderson was seeking to recreate. Thirty old growth one hundred foot red cedar trees were specially selected and upon approval were felled so that the bottom 22 feet could be used such that each log "gives the appearance that the tree is growing in its original environment as the foot of each tree spreads out over the rustic tongue and groove Douglas fir flooring."


brainerddispatch.com/stories/070303/liv_0703030033.html
www.woodyboater.com/classic-boats/classic-minnesota-par...
brainerddispatch.com/stories/070303/liv_0703030033.html
www.nor-son.com/resources/0000/0493/0687/for-the-love-o...

Adorning the boat house are trophies of Mr. Anderson's exploits as a Big Game Hunter. A stuffed Polar Bear, pelts from big cats, a stuffed wolf, stuffed sheep, all manner of animal heads affixed to its walls. A hunter's paradise. imgur.com/ks4NRsG or perhaps something from the set of Ben Stiller's movie, "Night at the Museum".

Big Game hunting

It is ironic, that the current owner of 3054 Gordon Drive not only shares the prestigious Horatio Elger award with former owner John H. Slater but that he also has a passion for wild animals, albeit Slater hosted a menagerie of live ones that roamed this Gordon Drive estate while Mr. Anderson travels the globe on exotic safaris and is an award winning Big Game hunter.

Sheep Hunting in Iran
i.imgur.com/uFyCKfk.jpg

Hunting in Uganda - World record Bushback, Nile
www.huntingreport.com/trophy_gallery_list_species_detai...

New Zealand Hunting Hall of Fame
Wapiti/Elk, Red Stag, Whitetail
www.kiwisafaris.co.nz/About-Kiwi-Safaris/Our-Hall-of-Fa...

Kudu Hunting in Africa
www.blaauwkrantz.com/news_article.asp?NewsID=134

Anderson's skill as a Big Game Hunter would have come in handy the night a live Panther bounded out the front window of the former house when John Slater was the owner back in the sixties. When Slater owned the property it was a veritable zoo with all manner of exotic animals and even Dolphins.

Executive Jets

Trey Aviation with an office at Naples airport is the transportation company set up for Anderson's company, PCi Group - Traveling in style commensurate with their homes and yachts, the Global 5000 long range executive jet and other aircraft whisk them from their various homes to where ever business or pleasure requires.
i.imgur.com/DHvhWWY.jpg

Before making the move to Gordon Drive the Andersons had a previous a previous home in Port Royal at 3800 Rum Row, which they sold in 2001 for $8 million. goo.gl/maps/0yGSv

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Laurence (Larry) Needler purchased 3054 Gordon in 1985 for $1.5 million

He had the original house demolished and proceeded to build a new house. Just 12 years later the house that Needler built was demolished by the new owners (Andersons).

Needler was a Canadian who before moving to 3054 Gordon Drive, lived part time in Naples at 254 Gulf Shore Blvd S, which he sold for $900,000 in 1986.

He was involved in many businesses including Filter Queen Vacuums, TravelWays Bus company, Global Van lines etc. Needler and fellow Canadian, Michael G DeGroote Sr (2200 Gordon) were involved in various ventures including a company called Contrans. But it was in the forties and fifties that Needler got his start initially in the bus business providing transportation between small towns in Ontario, Canada.

Needler's son Barry has carried on the Naples tradition having been involved in various developments such as Arbour Walk and has a house on 1st Ave N in Old Naples for which he paid more than $1 million in 2000 goo.gl/maps/eOv9Y .

Philanthropy
www.cds.on.ca/podium/default.aspx?t=204&tn=Needler+Hall...

Larry Needler lived in Ontario, Canada at this address 91 Fairway Heights Thornhill goo.gl/maps/T9KRv


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Peter H. Van Arsdale purchased the house from the bank in 1984 for $1.4 million, selling it to Needler a year later

Peter is the son of long time Naples resident, the late John C Van Arsdale Sr. The family was among the first wave of Port Royal residents and very active in the Port Royal Club as it was coming into its own in the sixties. In 1980 Peter and his brother John Jr took over the airline their father John Sr founded in 1949. Peter is an engineer by training having graduated from Tufts in 1972 and at that time had an airline transport rating as Captain for DC-3s. The boys grew the already successful and large regional airline to be the largest commuter airline in the US in the early eighties. www.inc.com/magazine/19830201/4270.html

In the mid eighties they had some challenges and unfortunately had to file for bankruptcy protection in the spring of 1985
articles.latimes.com/1988-09-06/business/fi-1628_1_comm...
www.apnewsarchive.com/1986/URGENT-People-to-Buy-PBA/id-...

Peter was a Councillor in Naples in the nineties and ran for mayor in 2000 i.imgur.com/RG7XbYl.jpg . He was inducted into the Naples cultural walkway in 2013.
www.naplesnews.com/news/2013/mar/08/new-honorees-to-be-...
www.fifthavenuesouth.com/new-honorees-named-to-the-napl...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provincetown-Boston_Airlines

www.provincetownbanner.com/article/history_article/_/25...

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William James Fahey purchased 3054 Gordon in 1981 for more than $1 million

The previous owner, John Hunter Slater passed away in 1979, his estate sold the house to William James Fahey in 1981. Fahey also owned 4455 Gordon Drive, which today is part of the Barbara Chur estate that includes 4444 Gordon Drive.

Fahey was a pioneer in the nutritional supplement business as well as direct and multi-level marketing with his company Biotec and for the time he owned 3054 Gordon in the early eighties, the tradition of keeping exotic animals on the estate carried on. There is a great story of a young Kevin Thomas (who in the early 2000's ran VitaRich Labs employing more than 100 here in Naples) recounting his first meeting with Fahey at the Gordon Drive estate.
www.naplesnews.com/news/2004/sep/27/ndn_homegrown_compa...

Both 3054 and 4455 Gordon were eventually sold by the bank in 1984, the former to Peter Van Arsdale and latter to a land trust and ultimately Barbara Chur. Fahey moved on to Sarasota with stops in California and Hawaii continuing in his marketing of health related products.

Here is an index of BioTech's website
biotecfoods.com/pdf/

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John H Slater owned the house in the sixties and seventies, the purchase price and name of previous owner are unknown at this time.

If you have ever partaken in college cafeteria food, Mr. Slater invented it. At age 28 he founded Slater Systems in 1931 and when the company that is now Aramark purchased it from him in 1961 for $15 million, more than 100 colleges had contracts with Slater along with hospitals and other institutions. Having sold the business Slater with his wife Edna retired to Naples where he continued to pursue his passion as an environmentalist with a focus on marine life and exotic animals. He was on the board of the Philadelphia and Miami zoos and was an early advocate for the endangered Loggerhead turtle, even establishing a hatchery on the beach in front of his Gordon Drive home. A contemporary of Slater, Julius K Fleischmann jr, lived just a few estates up Gordon Drive and like Slater was a passionate environmentalist who was also a benefactor of the Naples Zoo and the Naples conservancy. One could assume that their paths would have crossed given their interest in exotic animals.

With an almost 3 acre gulf front estate complete with salt water pools and ponds, 3054 Gordon Drive became a type of animal sanctuary/zoo with many exotic species passing through its gates over the years. Slater would take in unwanted exotics and subsequently find a home for them at other zoos. A favorite with the kids and adults alike were his Dolphins including at one time Flipper's sister Flax along with a trio of Dolphins name Dolly, Jumper and Snipper who resided in a 150,000 gallon pool and gave regular performances.

Slater opened his home weekly where families, school groups etc could come to watch the Dolphins and get up close with the deer that roamed the property, view the big cats such as cheetah's, lions and panthers when they were in residence. Slater's niece, Karen Pryor is a world famous animal trainer and behavioral biologist. www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vets/biopryor.html and she wrote about her uncle in her best seller, Don't Shoot the Dog where she said " I think having a veterinarian "debark" your dog by cutting its vocal cords (Method 1) is a lousy solution to the problem of a dog that barks all night. I say that even though my uncle John Slater resorted to this solution, with my reluctant approval, when the neighbors complained about the barking of his sea lions. Of course, not many people keep sea lions in their swimming pool. Maybe it's the method of choice in that case." www.amazon.com/Dont-Shoot-Dog-Teaching-Training/dp/0553...

Slater was the recipient of many awards including this one: the 1960 Horatio Alger Award Winner John H. Slater
www.horatioalger.org/members_info.cfm?memberid=sla60 (the current owner, Lee Anderson will be a recipient of the same award in 2014 www.horatioalger.org/news_pr_members2014.cfm)

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much more on Slater and his animal kingdom in these articles including images

www.naplesnews.com/photos/galleries/2006/may/06/vintage...

www.gulfshorelife.com/July-2010/Gordon-Drive-Intrigue/
There was also a thrilling moment under a previous owner, John Slater, when his panther hurled himself out of the front picture window and tore down the street.

naplesbackyardhistory.net/Media.html

naples.floridaweekly.com/news/2008-10-16/Undercover_His...

Slater awarded honorary doctorate in 1975 from Bryant College in RI (Slater is 3rd from left)
i.imgur.com/oBV8QVA.jpg

Slater loved sculpture and was particularly fond of the works of Lindsay Daen whom he discovered on a trip to Puerto Rico

Many of Daen's sculptures were installed on the estate including "The Fisherman" placed near the beach

This is an image from 1977 of "Hoopster" (Girl with a Hoop) with a pair of Slater's Florida White Tail deer nearby imgur.com/uMKjADY and an accompanying 1977 story i.imgur.com/etTvHDS.jpg

Here is a long article on the Slater estate from 1973 i.imgur.com/Xfa97vR.jpg

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More on Slater Systems

1961: ARA spends $15 million to acquire Philadelphia-based Slater System Inc., the country's largest manual food service business at the time. The purchase gives ARA a strong foothold in institutional markets such as colleges and universities www.riskandinsurance.com/story.jsp?storyId=280114284