|
The Prizes
|
|
The Grand Prize is a house and a gift shop on Florida’s Gulf coast as well as a
Maserati. Second prize is $100,000 and the third place winner will receive $50,000.
|
|
|
|
The House
|
This beautiful approximately 3,277 square foot home is located in Miramar Beach,
just east of Destin, in Walton County, Florida. It is built in a Key West style
and has 4 bedrooms, 4 ½ baths and a two car garage. Enjoy bay views from the porches,
living room and master suite. The open floor plan is ideal for family living and
entertaining. Light colored hardwood floors, lots of windows and French doors, and
10 foot ceilings add to the airy feel.
Downstairs you will find the kitchen, dining and living area with surround sound
and a gas fireplace, laundry room, powder room and one bedroom that has its own
bath, with a tiled shower, and walk in closet. The porch that leads from the garage
to the house has a natural gas grill hook up and exterior shower.
The master suite is upstairs. It includes a spacious bedroom with French doors leading
to a porch with a beautiful view of the bay, a bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub and large
tiled shower with dual shower heads, and a generous closet that has custom cabinets
and shelves. Also upstairs is another full bathroom and bedroom. This bedroom has
an exterior door that leads to a porch with a hot tub.
The Mother-in-law suite above the garage has a full kitchen, bath and laundry room.
It also has its own exterior entrance, HVAC unit and hot water heater. The main
house has a Rinnai Tankless water heater, one HVAC with a digital thermostat for
upstairs and one for downstairs.
The home was built in 2001 and is situated directly across the street from Choctawhatchee
Bay and Legion Park. The park has a playground, basketball court, picnic tables,
shuffle board and a boat landing.
The home’s exterior is Hardie board-like siding with a metal roof. Also included
is a storage building at the back of the property. The west side of the home has
a small fenced yard.
Miramar Beach is a wonderful combination of nice family neighborhoods, Gulf front
condos, great shopping and an excellent variety of restaurants. Walton county schools
are very good and rate above the state average in most categories. It is also home
to Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort and Silver Sands, the nation’s largest designer
outlet center.
The trip from the home to the store, Molly Caroline’s, is about 17 miles and takes
around 30 minutes. Traffic is rarely an issue and the views of the Gulf along scenic
County Road 30-A are like a string of postcard photos.
As of July 1, 2009 the Walton County Property Appraiser has listed this
home’s value as $510,587.
|
|
|
|
The Gift Shop
|
|
Molly Caroline’s, is an upscale gift shop in
Seaside, Florida. The store opened on June 29, 2007. Currently the shop carries
Vietri Italian pottery, Herend’s hand painted Hungarian porcelain, Crabtree & Evelyn,
Jack Black, The Thymes and Gund toys just to list a few. Customers love our name
brands, and also appreciate our monogramming service. The Toyota, 15 needle, commercial
embroidery machine sits in the cash wrap area and runs for hours every day. Customers
pay to have many of the store items monogrammed and also bring in outside items.
Molly Caroline’s has a history of offering outstanding customer service. In addition
to monogramming, shipping, special ordering and gift wrapping are available.
|
Molly Caroline’s, was built as a dream store.
The goal was to create a very comfortable atmosphere where the clientele felt as
if they had just stepped into a graceful family beach home, while still functioning
as an efficient business. Noted architect, Jeff Margaretten, designed each element
with this in mind. Extensive custom wood work, including 18 foot tall display towers,
a detailed cash wrap area and mahogany cabinetry contribute to the charm of Molly
Caroline’s. The floors are low maintenance, acid stained concrete. The combination
of the Emerald Pearl granite countertops and turquoise beaded glass tile accents
truly sparkle in the afternoon sun. One of the most interesting and practical design
elements is the rolling library ladder. You have to get to the top of those towers
somehow.
|
Special attention was taken with the shop’s lighting. The Lutron Lighting System
is programmed to govern when the lights come on and go off. This means that the
store can be nice and bright after hours and before which makes for wonderful window
shopping. It is also a nice security feature. Delicate flowers hang from the white
porcelain chandelier in the store’s front window and nickel lanterns light the cash
wrap and mahogany cabinets in the back portion of the store. These residential fixtures
were used to maintain the shop’s relaxed feel.
|
The shop uses Quick Books point of sale and accounting software. The cash wrap area
has two point of sale terminals. Credit card processing is currently done through
Intuit. Molly Caroline’s has a spacious office and storage area and its own rest
room.
|
Molly Caroline’s sits on Seaside, Florida’s Central Square facing the grassy amphitheater.
The emerald green waters of the Gulf of Mexico are just a short stroll away. In
fact, you can actually see the water from the shop’s front window.
Seaside
is a fascinating town and plenty of interesting information is available. It is
regarded as the birth place of New Urbanism and has been written about extensively
because of its architecture. Seaside has also gotten lots of attention for being
a wonderful destination for family vacations. In 1998 the movie
The Truman
Show, starring Jim Carrey, was filmed here.
|
The Grand Prize Winner will receive Molly Caroline’s as a fully functioning business.
Years of pre-paid rent, all electronics, equipment, fixtures, furniture, supplies
and merchandise are included. This totals more than $750,000.
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Maserati
|
 The 2005 Maserati Quattroporte
is the ideal synthesis of luxury and sportiness. This timeless Italian beauty excels
in terms of technology and craftsmanship. The Quattroporte is the only large luxury
car that delivers comfort and thrilling performance. The trident crested grille
and roaring Ferrari engine have been known to leave a trail of envy in their wake.
The interior is beautifully appointed with leather upholstery and fine wood details.
It is in pristine condition. The Quattroporte’s current value exceeds $40,000.
ALL DESCRIPTIONS ARE APPROXIMATE.
|
|
|