Well-known Twin Cities businessman, Irwin Jacobs, is trying to find a buyer for his sprawling Wayzata estate, a can't-miss-it manse on a tree-studded hilltop along County Road 15 (Shoreline Drive) in Orono. The property includes a 13,000 square-foot brick main house with slate tile roof, a 3,500 square-foot guest house with two bedroom suites, a pool house, a barn and a gate house.

At $22 million, it's not the most expensive listing in the Twin Cities. Meredith Howell of Coldwell Banker Burnet has the $24 million listing for the Pillsbury/Jundt estate just down the street. That 32,000 square-foot-plus house is on 13 acres on Brackett's Point.

Co-listing agent, Bonnie Velie, director of Distinctive Homes/Previews division for Coldwell Banker Burnet, said that while the house is "the most classic of traditional homes, and you might expect a house of this era to be quite formal," it's also a highly livable house that with no shortage of casual areas. The main house, which has been expanded several times, was built in 1939.

Jacobs, 72, is well-known for buying properties at rock-bottom prices and flipping them quickly for a profit. Not so in this case. Jacobs has lived in the house for more than 40 years, and Velie said that with adult grandchildren, Jacobs is hoping to downsizing to a house that is "less complicated to maintain."

Jacobs feels that the time is right to find a buyer, especially with the pace of upscale houses on the rise. By October of last year sales of $1 million-plus properties had outpaced the previous year before by a long shot. And with housing construction on the rise, especially in closer proximity to downtown Minneapolis, there's a growing shortage of developable land. Because of that, this 32-acre property, which has 720 feet of shoreline on Smith's Bay and 1,231 feet along Tanager Lake, might appeal to a developer for subdivision. Here's a link to the listing.