By Kiri Blakeley, Realtor.com
A Palm Beach compound listed for an eye-watering $88 million comes with the ultimate beachfront amenity—and it’s not a pool, cabana, or even a helipad.
The estate has its own underground tunnel snaking underneath the road from the backyard to the beach.
No need to wait for the light to turn at the street when you can walk straight from your yard to your private beachfront cabana.
“This stunning oceanfront compound is comprised of main house, guest house, and rare tunnel to a beach cabana,” touts the listing on Realtor.com®.
Pictures feature the white tunnel’s opening on the main home’s emerald expanse of lawn and stairs that lead underground.
An aerial shot of the white compound at 1540 South Ocean Boulevard shows the tunnel stopping at the road, and the cabana, as large as some tiny homes, across the street on the beach.
“Access the beach through a private tunnel leading to a stunning oceanfront cabana with a beachfront plunge pool,” says the property’s own website, which has photos of the property under construction.
The ultimate Palm Beach amenity
“Because Ocean Boulevard is the island’s main north-south artery and separates many seaside mansions from their beach parcels, homeowners there buy, build, or covet convenient underground walkways to the shore,” says a blog post on the local real estate law firm of Rabineau Klein.
Only two other active Palm Beach listings have the word “tunnel” in them: Both are in the Winthrop House condominium complex at 100 Worth Avenue, which boasts: “A rare Gem in an Icon … Take the tunnel under the street to the private Beach Access.”
One condo is $10.25 million, and the other is $3.2 million.
According to the Palm Beach Daily News, the $88 million estate was purchased as a teardown in 2021 for $10.5 million by a Delaware-registered limited liability company named 1540SOcean LLC, which is affiliated with The DRI Fund, an investment firm that specializes in buying distressed mortgages. The deed lists the buyer with an address in downtown West Palm Beach.
Steve Kirsch is the managing director of The DRI Fund and the likely buyer. Realtor.com has reached out for comment to Kirsch and the listing agent, Christian Angle.
The original owners, a doctor and his novelist wife, paid $260,000 44 years ago for a much more humble beach abode, which was torn down in favor of the sprawling white compound with the private tunnel.
“The future owners of the spec estate at 1540 S. Beach Boulevard will be able to enjoy the ultimate amenity—their own private tunnel to the Atlantic Ocean,” says Rabideau Klein in its blog post. “To accommodate construction of the project, the city is now re-routing South Ocean Boulevard traffic and the tunnel is expected to be finished in October.”
Other homes with beach tunnels
Other properties with private tunnels in the area include Mar-a-Lago, Tommy Hilfiger’s house at 1930 S. Beach Boulevard, local contractor The Cury Group’s president Ed Cury’s home, and venture capitalist Chris Shumway’s home at 1520 S. Beach Boulevard.
“Mar-a-Lago has a highly secured beach tunnel that links the main grounds to the property’s Beach Club,” says the law firm’s post.
A tunnel must be approved by the Town of Palm Beach Buildings Department. (Realtor.com reached out for comment.) Reportedly, Shumway’s tunnel was approved “to allow his children to cross South Ocean Boulevard more safely.”
The Florida exodus: Palm Beach not included
While a record number of homes pile up in Florida and prices drop dramatically, Palm Beach is relatively immune to the plunge due to its status as the most exclusive enclave in the Sunshine State.
Hurricanes, extreme heat, soaring HOA fees in the wake of the Surfside condo collapse, skyrocketing insurance rates, and the difficulty of procuring insurance at all have led to an inventory surge and price reductions.
But Palm Beach—home of Mar-a-Lago, The Breakers, and Billionaires Row—remains an iconic setting for those who don’t need to worry about mortgages.
“Palm Beach saw a massive uptick in housing demand during the pandemic, which drove home prices higher and inventory levels lower,” says Realtor.com senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones.
As wealthy New Yorkers seeking to escape the COVID-19 lockdown crashed into the luxury town, which has a population of fewer than 10,000, prices peaked at a median of $4.15 million in April 2022.
Currently, the median list price stands at $3 million, with the median sale price just a sliver off at $2.9 million.
Double- and even triple-million digit prices are still common. In 2024, an 11-bedroom compound on a 2.27-acre lot was sold for $154 million, an astonishing $7,101 per square foot.
And while this Bermuda-style compound’s $88 million price tag might give pause to some, it’s a steal compared with the 2-acre empty lot a mere 10-minute walk away on the beach at 1980 South Ocean Boulevard. It’s listed for a jaw-dropping $200 million.
Besides the $88 million compound’s tunnel to the crystalline blue waters of the Atlantic, there is plenty else to recommend it to those with the means.
There are eight bedrooms, 12.5 bathrooms, and a roomy 16,500-plus square feet of newly built living quarters in a mostly white design scheme.
The chef’s kitchen has dual islands topped with pristine marble, the bedrooms have enormous custom-built walk-in closets and balconies overlooking the ocean, and virtually every room has sweeping views of the water.
The backyard also includes a pool, covered loggias, and tons of space for entertaining. And the eight-car garage means you will never be searching for parking.
But for bragging rights, it’s hard to beat a private underground tunnel to the beach.