A lucky man who won half a billion in the lottery invested his winnings in a posh seaside resort hotel that eventually had to be demolished.
Richard Wahl was the sole winner of a whopping $533 million (£426 million) in March 2018. The lottery big winner opted to take his winnings in cash, reducing the annuity jackpot to a one-off payout of $324.6 million (£260 million).
Wahl earned the life-changing money in a Mega Millions drawing in New Jersey. Wahl reportedly had around $175 million left after taxes. Wahl decided to try his luck and play the lottery after hearing about Mega Millions from a co-worker, The Mirror reports.
That night, Wahl learned he had won the jackpot. The retailer who sold the winning ticket also received a $30,000 bonus check for the sale of the winning ticket. At the time, the $533 million jackpot was the largest lottery jackpot in New Jersey history, the fourth-largest Mega Millions jackpot, and the 10th-largest lottery jackpot in North American history.
When asked what was next for him and his family, Wahl said at the time: “We are still in shock and have spoken to our financial advisors. We still have a lot of planning to do.” But he also said he wanted to restore a 1963 Corvette, which was a dream of his.
Wahl moved from Vernon, New Jersey, where he lived and worked as a restaurant manager, to the Sunshine State of Florida. And that’s exactly where Wahl had his investment in mind.
A year after the historic win, Wahl used some of his wealth to buy La Playa Resort & Suites at auction, with the investment reportedly costing him a total of $13.6 million (£10.1 million).
The 239-room hotel on Daytona Beach, Florida, had been closed since 2016, when it was damaged by Hurricane Matthew.
Wahl announced in 2019 that he wanted to transform the hotel, which opened in 1975, by converting it into a timeshare property, a vacation property where multiple buyers can own or lease shares.
Restoration work began, which included replacing plumbing and adding a new balcony for one of the rooms, but Wahl stopped funding the project when Daytona Beach authorities asked him to replace the property’s aging seawall, part of which had been destroyed by the hurricane.
Wahl then abandoned his project and put the property up for sale, asking for the modest sum of $13 million (£10 million), according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.
In September 2023, local authorities condemned the building. A large red sign on the property’s fence read: “This building is unsafe and its use or occupancy is prohibited.”
Susan Cerbone, a spokeswoman for the city, said at the time: “There is an expropriation notice for the property because normal construction work has been suspended for a period of two years.”
“Basically, their permit has expired. They will remove all trailers and debris from the site to lift the demolition order and allow the sale to proceed.”
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