Jumbolair Aviation Estates – the one-time Vanderbilt family horse farm and African elephant refuge turned high-end residential community – has sold for $9.5 million to a Melbourne limited liability company.
The sale does not affect previously purchased properties inside the development, such as John Travolta's home on 20 acres at the end of the Jumbolair's 7,550-foot runway, billed as the longest private paved runway in the United States.
Jumbolair was put on the market in 2019 for $10.5 million by Frank Merschman. He acquired the property, which is in the town of Anthony, north of Ocala, in 2013.
Merschman stopped selling aviation lots and ended the bed-and-breakfast and banquet services at the scenic Vanderbilt mansion. He built his own 11,019-square-foot estate and kept the property largely private.