3888 Gordon Drive (Naples, Florida)

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3888 Gordon Drive
current: goo.gl/maps/9T5HF
circa 1953: i.imgur.com/JQ7XDbV.jpg

This small, formerly vacant lot is the 8th property south from the "not so well known" ( goo.gl/maps/2Wdq4 ) public beach access path - 3888 is situated between two similar properties also on small lots, each with a house built up on pilings.

Owner History of 3888 Gordon Drive:

-William J Stein (The Blackstone Group - private equity) & Sharon L Stein (attorney) purchased 3888 in 2012 for over $5 million
-Woodbine Group as Trustee of a Trust for David Pabst Jr & Brett Y Pabst) - (Pabst Farms, Pabst brewery heirs)
-David Pabst (President Pabst Farms / Director Pabst Brewery) purchased 3887+3888 in 1973 for $150,000
-Dr. E.L Tharinger (Milwaukee Pathologist) purchased 3887+3888 for ? in early 1930's for boathouse on Champney Bay
-E.W. Crayton (one of Naples' "founders") purchased in 1930 from James M Raleigh for ?
-James M Raleigh ???

There is a stretch of smaller properties on the west side of Gordon Drive between the pink bungalow at 3600 and 3900, after which Gordon Drive curves to the south east towards Cutlass Lane; understanding the provenance of some of these smaller properties can be challenging for a number of reasons including lot severances, same owners of different lots at different times, inter-family/company transactions and the relocation of Gordon Drive in 1963 and 1983.

In days gone by 3888 was simply deeded beach access for the property across the road at 3887 Gordon. In recent years 3887 was known as the "Pabst boathouse residence" (Pabst brewing family) and 3888 the "Pabst beach access". Before the Pabsts, it was the Tharinger boathouse property owned by Dr. E.L. Tharinger (famed Milwaukee pathologist) who had purchased 3887+3888 in the 1930's from one of Naples "founders", E.W. Crayton.

David Pabst and his wife Yvonne (Giliusen) Pabst actual Gordon Drive address was 3861, Pabst also owned the adjacent property at 3875, both properties were on the east side of Gordon Drive backing on Champney Bay and both properties included deeded beach access across the road at 3850 and 3860. When Tharinger's estate put 3887 + 3888 up for sale in 1974, David Pabst purchased both for $150,000 giving the Pabsts three adjacent properties on the east side of Gordon Drive backing on Champney Bay and each with its own deeded beach access property on the west side of Gordon Drive for a total of six parcels.

Fast forward to 2012 and the Trustee for David's son, David jr and daughter, Brett Pabst sold 3888 Gordon Drive, the final parcel of the original 6 and what had been the deeded beach access for 3887 (the "Pabst boathouse property") to William J Stein and Sharon L Stein for over $5 million. In 2010 Brett, who had acquired the boathouse property on the east side of Gordon (3887) from the estate in 1997 for less than $450,000, sold it for $2.5 million.

Sharon L Stein is a lawyer and William J Stein is Senior Managing Director of Real Estate and an Executive Director at the Blackstone Group where he is also Global Head of Asset Management at Blackstone Real Estate Advisors. He received his MBA ('86) from of the University of Chicago and has been with Blackstone since 1997. Bill is one of America's leading investors in hotel and resort properties through Blackstone with more than $64 billion in capital under management. Their real estate portfolio includes hotel, office, retail, industrial and residential properties in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Major holdings include: Hilton Worldwide, Equity Office Properties, Brixmor shopping centers, La Quinta and London's Broadgate office complex. And for those who know Naples, when the Edgewater Beach Hotel on Gulf Shore Blvd N in the Moorings changed ownership in late 2013 for $55 million, Bill's signature was at the bottom of the document. Blackstone who had owned the Edgewater for more than a decade sold it for $55 million. And not only did Blackstone divest the Edgewater but also the Naples Grande Golf Course on Golden Gate Pkwy and the old Registry resort (now Waldorf). The names of the entities that held these properties included variations of word "Panther" e.g PANTHERS GREY OAKS LLC; PANTHERS RPN LLC etc

The first order of business for Mr. and Mrs. Stein with the purchase of 3888 Gordon was to petition the City of Naples to vacate that old right of way where Gordon Drive used to be located*. Their petition was granted in the spring of 2013 giving them what could be described as either a worthless or priceless 3,000 square feet of additional property. (details in these two PDF files: bit.ly/1g5ReY6 and here bit.ly/1lEVdvL)

Construction is now underway on Bill and Sharon Stein's new beach house at 3888 Gordon Drive, Naples, Florida; one of the last vacant and never occupied lots on Gordon Drive will finally be occupied and local residents and various interlopers are likely in search of a different cut through to get to the public beach on south Gordon Drive.

If the Steins' home in Harrison (Westchester), New York is any indication they will be taking full advantage of that extra portion of land vacated by the city to fully utilize the floor area index for their new beach house.

The Stein's currently have a condo in the exclusive Bay Colony section of Pelican Bay at "The Salerno" binged.it/1cQ7U7C floor-plan: j.b5z.net/i/u/2099816/i/Salerno-01.jpg , which they have owned since 2005. This is their estate in Harrison, New York binged.it/1d3qjJ8 .

References

William J Stein - Sharon L Stein

www.blackstone.com/the-firm/overview/our-people/william...‎
westchester.blockshopper.com/property/55-28-01-000-302-...
investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/perso...
opencorporates.com/officers?button=&q=william+j+stein&u...
investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/peopl...
Bill at a La Quinta conference
www.hotelmanagement.net/files/hotelworldnetwork/nodes/2...
Sale of Naples Grande Golf Course and Edgewater Beach Hotel
www.marketwatch.com/story/hff-closes-sale-of-waldorf-as...
www.businessobserverfl.com/section/detail/ocean-propert...

Politics
images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?12952487133
blogs.rollcall.com/moneyline/blackstone-group-executive...
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* Just as 3887 Gordon has been referred to as the "Pabst boathouse residence", some refer to 3888 Gordon Drive as the "Pabst beach access", which was accurate but to understand this property one has to know that on two occasions since 1960 the south end of Gordon Drive was relocated away from the beach.

For 3888 the most significant and beneficial relocation was in the early 1980's when the City of Naples traffic engineers undertook a project to better align the turn that begins at 3900. They relocated a small section of Gordon Drive such that it was repositioned to the east by up to 30 feet in front of the three Gulf front properties north of 3900, specifically 3888, 3860 and 3850. That land remained city property until early 2013 when the new owners of 3888 coordinated with 3860 and 3850 to have the city vacate the land and assign it to the respective (adjacent) property owners. Of the more than 4,700 square feet vacated, the big winner was 3888, which gained more than 3,000 square feet including an increase in lot depth of up to 30 feet. That extra depth was significant as front yard setbacks on this part of Gordon Drive are just 25 feet.

Property History

Prior to William J Stein and Sharon L Stein the property at 3888 Gordon had been owned by members of the Pabst family since 1974.

David Pabst was president of Pabst farms and scion of the Pabst brewing family. His grandfather, Capt. Fredrick Pabst (d. 1904) founded the brewery (the world's largest in its day) and his father, also Fredrick (d. 1958) was chairman of Pabst and founder of Pabst Farms. David Pabst passed away at age 63 in 1977 and with a series of estate related transactions, 3888 and 3887 (the boathouse property) were passed on to his son David Jr. and daughter Brett. The boathouse property at 3887 was also a residence and the vacant lot (3888) across the road provided an unobstructed view of the Gulf of Mexico and deeded beach access.

Until his health started to fail, David Pabst and his wife Yvonne G. Pabst, much like many of their Gordon Drive contemporaries enjoyed boating. Their yacht was the "Lady Louise" and this article tells of a trip he and his wife took to the Tortugas in the spring of 1964 i.imgur.com/4WOpRak.jpg . Unlike today where crime is almost unheard of in these parts, petty thieves targeted the wealthy and frequently vacant properties. In 1970, thieves made off with $2,700 worth of communications equipment from David Pabst's yacht moored by his Gordon Drive house on Champney Bay i.imgur.com/67kkYX1.jpg . Pabst was an avid photographer, a Harvard grad and served in the Navy during WWII as a Lieutenant Commander.

There is an interesting connection between the Pabst family (Pabst Beer) and the Uihlein family (Schlitz Beer), members of whom owned 2500 Gordon Drive back in the 1930's and 4370 Gordon in the early 1970's. David Pabst's mother was Ida Uihlein. www.slahs.org/uihlein/family_history1.htm

Before the Pabsts, 3887+3888 Gordon drive was owned by Dr. E.L. Tharinger who had purchased the property from E.W. Crayton (one of Naples founders - e.g. Crayton Rd.) who in turn had purchased the property from James M Raleigh. (more on E.W. Crayton below). Tharinger's Naples home was located at 3800+3820 Gordon, which he had owned since 1930. The property at 3887+3888 was for his boat house.

References

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Pabst Family
www.gmtoday.com/content/m_magazine/2009/August/m_0809_4...

David Pabst Sr. obituary
Obituary: news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19770112&id=h9c...

Brett Pabst FKA Yvonne P Smith FKA Yvonne Maxine Pabst
Brett moved to Old Naples (Aqualane shores) after selling the boathouse property.
www.naplesnews.com/photos/galleries/2009/apr/12/easter-...

David Pabst Jr.
VP Pabst Farms
www.chamberofcommerce.com/oconomowoc-wi/5268347-pabst-f...

(Of interest the name Woodbine Group, which acts as Trustee to David Pabst's estate and which sold the property to the Steins is named after "Woodbine" the Frederick Pabst estate on Oconomoc Lake in Wisconsin.

From another era
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19410619&id=vKB...
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19610827&id=qjs...
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19440328&id=BPA...



Pabst Farms
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pabst_farms‎
www.pabstfarms.com
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19790319&id=bI5...

Pabst Brewing Company
www.pabstmansion.com/history/pabst-brewery.aspx
www.pabstmansion.com/restore-collect/archives.aspx‎
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pabst_Brewing_Company‎
onmilwaukee.com/bars/articles/pabsthistory.html

Other articles on the Pabsts
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19640412&id=5lY...
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19580221&id=gl1...
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19580305&id=sWN...
Wedding announcement for one of David Sr. brothers, Harald (note reference to Naples and the Briggs Family)
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19400625&id=taB...
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Dr. Edward L. Tharinger

news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19440515&id=rhw...

Retirement 1950
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19500712&id=Dr9...


Dr. Tharinger's Obituary 1973
i.imgur.com/FxLhlQz.jpg

Mrs. Irma Tharinger's Obituary 1967
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19670110&id=-QI...

"Mrs. Tharinger was an avid collector of sea shells, including several hundred in her scientifically classified collection"


More on Tharinger
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19440430&id=qks...
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19570526&id=dglS...
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E.W "Ed" Crayton

"In the early part of the century, he ran Naples. Crayton was a founder of the Naples Improvement Co., which bought out the Haldeman interests in 1914. The former Ohio real estate executive was a strict businessman who was involved with all development decisions in Naples. He served as chairman and president of the Town Council from 1923 until his death in 1938" (1)

If you have ever wondered why Crayton Road in the Moorings wasn't given a more tropical name befitting its character, something like Jasmine Drive for example? This article explains it.

web.naplesnews.com/ceandw/032007/feature_moorings.html

www.mpoa.org/images/History_of_The_Moorings.pd

(1) History of Naples (large PDF file)
homes.ottcommunications.com/~dsonder/On%20The%20Go/NAPL...

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James M Raleigh
?
Saint Augustine, Florida (d. 1927)