Chateau Montagel, the state\u2019s largest home,<\/a> with an eye toward purchasing it. <\/p>\nThe San Diego-based home remodeling and design contractor said he didn\u2019t know what to expect. All he\u2019d seen to draw him across the continent was an Instagram post promoting the 55,000-square-foot home in Shoal Creek. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe had stereotypical thoughts of Alabama, but we didn\u2019t know what to expect,\u201d he said. \u201cI told my family, \u2018Don\u2019t expect much.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But driving into the neighborhood, approaching 7 Montagel Way, the light began hitting the trees, Kaminskiy said, \u201clike a little fairy tale.\u201d<\/p>\n
And after paying about $4.8 million, he has plans for an extensive renovation that could take as long as three years and cost an as-yet-undetermined amount of money. <\/p>\n
Kaminskiy has spent almost 20 years redesigning and renovating high end properties like Chateau Montagel – sometimes known as the \u201cGuitar House\u201d for its distinctive long driveway shaped like the musical instrument. <\/p>\n
In some ways, he said, his career has prepared him for this task. <\/p>\n
The home is the 44th largest house in the United States, coming in only slightly smaller than the White House.<\/p>\n
The Versailles-style estate sits on 27 acres and has 15 bedrooms, 22 bathrooms, 12 grand fireplaces, mahogany doors, hand-painted frescoes, gold leafing, hand-selected marble and limestone finishes and high ceilings.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a 25-person theater, 10-car garage, commercial-grade elevator, 2,000 bottle capacity wine cellar, 3,000-square-foot guest house and an equestrian center designed to resemble one belonging to the late Queen Elizabeth II.<\/p>\n
The mansion was built in 1997 by Larry House, the former founder and CEO of MedPartners, and was designed by Birmingham architect Bill Sheppard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m getting a lot of house for what I\u2019m paying,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
But he\u2019s also expecting to put in a lot of labor. The home had basically been abandoned for seven years, Kaminskiy said. <\/p>\n
A plumbing leak in 2017 damaged several floors all the way to the basement. There are roof leaks and other problems. <\/p>\n
When Kaminsky\u2019s children began using the shower, water ran into the office. <\/p>\n
But Kaminskiy is undaunted. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be fabulous,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
For starters, he aims to create a biohacking facility on one floor, along with a full gym with cardio area, jujitsu and wrestling training accommodations. <\/p>\n
He plans to install a hyperbaric chamber, red and blue-light therapy, cryotherapy and IV stations, as well as a dry sauna, infrared sauna, steamroom and 12-person hot tub. <\/p>\n
Kaminskiy and a team of designers will draw up plans for the renovation. He said he is also talking with a production team to document the work on social media and elsewhere. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe house is already on the map. People recognize it globally,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
But he intends to keep Chateau Montagel as his private residence, as well as host VIP events, and use the property to inspire a new generation of entrepreneurs. <\/p>\n
\u201cI started with nothing, and I had to work very, very hard for what we have,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an amazing country, and we\u2019ve fallen in love with Alabama. The people are amazing, the food is amazing, and it\u2019s really growing on us. It\u2019s exceeded our expectations, and I think this is going to be a fun ride and bless a lot of people.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sergei Kaminskiy had been all over the world. But he\u2019d never been to Alabama before setting foot in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,176600],"class_list":{"0":"post-356135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-new-owner-of-alabamas-biggest-house-begins-renovations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}