The Neil Whitesell House: Just How Big Are Those Palm Trees?

The course of major construction apparently never runs smoothly. First, former Shoals industrialist Neil L. Whitesell and his wife Tracy Crump Whitesell had to petition the Naples, Florida, city council in order to construct a 6.5' wall designed to separate the front of their 32K square foot mansion from the beach. We can understand the Whitesells wouldn't want just anyone looking into their dream home, but an August 2nd accident allowed the outside world a small peak.

It seems the Whitesells wanted to plant some fully grown palm trees by their pool. Hey, who wouldn't? While moving the trees, one gigantic crane toppled under the weight of the palm, falling into the house. Bad news for the Whitesells, but it allowed the public a close up view of the mega-edifice via photos. Is that a fireplace on the covered veranda? Those Florida nights can get pretty cool.

Below is a photo of the almost finished mansion. When completed, the home located just south of the Naples Beach Hotel and Golf Club will be the largest domicile in Collier County. If you're wondering how the Whitesell home compares to most U.S. dwellings, the Census Bureau reported the average size of an American home in 2009 was 2,392 square feet.

Photographs courtesy of Naples News

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We blogged yesterday concerning our lack of a food critic. Now we have two. Our new restaurant blog should get underway shortly. We hope you'll enjoy it:

Quad-Cities Cuisine

Shoalanda

Special Report: Where Does Whitesell Money Go?

For some time, we have received questions about an OSHA investigation into Whitesell Industries located in Muscle Shoals. Until now, we had no information that could be substantiated. That changed yesterday when OSHA announced it was fining the multimillionaire industrialist Neil Loftin Whitesell's company three million dollars for tens of safety and health violations.

U. S.Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Soils addressed the matter in a prepared statement: “Whitesell willfully tampered with the safety mechanisms of its hydraulic forging presses at its Tuscumbia plant to speed up production, resulting in the amputation of a worker’s hand,” Solis said. “Companies like Whitesell that value short-term gain over their workers’ safety will be held responsible for their reckless actions.”

Many may remember that before Dr. David Bronner and the RSA stepped in, Whitesell was close to purchasing the Renaissance Tower for pennies on the dollar. His intentions? He thought it would make a great "giant screw."

Puns are so tempting here, but taking the higher road we'll end our report with a photograph. Below is the Naples, Florida, home (32K square foot mega-mansion) currently being built by the industrialist while at least one of his employees lost a hand due to cost-cutting measures at Whitesell's local plants.

Sources say that Whitesell and his wife Tracy Crump, daughter of Gene Crump, now permanently reside in Naples, Florida. Let's all look closely at the photo of the Whitesell's mansion--was it worth an employee's hand?