By Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News
The warmer months of 2024 in Palm Beach saw a remarkable run of high-dollar residential sales, with nine properties changing hands for more than $39 million. By way of comparison, the off-season last year saw only five sales in that rarified price category.
Here’s a look at the deals between May 1 and Oct. 21 that hit at least $39 million, in descending order of price. The list also includes the biggest condominium sale.
The sales were previously reported by the Palm Beach Daily News and reconfirmed in the monthly transaction reports issued by the Rabideau Klein law firm. The sale prices and dates presented here are those recorded with the deeds at the Palm Beach County Courthouse.
$150 million, 10 Tarpon Isle
The May sale of Tarpon Island — the only private island in town — and its renovated-and-expanded mega-mansion became 2024’s highest-dollar residential deal in Florida. The Estate Section sale also set a new price record in Palm Beach for a home sold on the Intracoastal Waterway without additional ocean frontage. Australian investments tycoon Michael Dorrell was widely reported to be the buyer behind MCI Properties LLC, the limited liability company that bought the 2.3-acre estate. The property was redeveloped by Todd Michael Glaser through his eponymous company. Glaser’s investors in the project included Jonathan Fryd of Fryd Properties in Miami; developer Scott Robins of Scott Robins Cos. in Miami Beach; and Randall Realty Group’s Jim Randall of Manalapan. Real estate agents Suzanne Frisbie of the Corcoran Group and Chris Leavitt of Douglas Elliman Real Estate held the listing. Broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate also was involved on the sellers’ side. Agent Margit Brandt of Premier Estate Properties represented the buyer. With 11 bedrooms, the two-story mansion has 28,618 total square feet of living space, inside and out. The original house was built in the 1930s.
$148 million, 455 N. County Road
This landmarked Palm Beach estate, known as Amado, sold in June in an off-market transaction. Private-equity and branding specialist Daren Metropoulos bought the 3.2-acre oceanfront property from the family of the late Canadian businessman and real estate investor William Pencer. Agent Jim McCann of Premier Estate Properties represented the sellers in the deal, negotiating opposite Angle. Designed by first-generation Palm Beach architect Addison Mizner and built in 1919 on the North End, the extensively renovated estate has six bedrooms and 22,741 total square feet, property records show.
$60.37 million, 130 Banyan Road
Interior designer Victoria Hagan and her media-investor husband, Michael Berman, in May sold this extensively renovated 1924 house via an off-market deal in the Estate Section. The sale likely set a Palm Beach price record for a non-waterfront estate that did not involve a house swap when it sold. The actual amount that changed hands in the deal may have topped $65 million, people familiar with the transaction said. On the buyer’s side, New York City real estate attorney Steven M. Loeb served as trustee of The Banyan Road Trust. Brown Harris Stevens agents handled both sides of the sale, with Liza Pulitzer and Whitney McGurk representing the sellers and Blair Kirwan acting for the buyer. With five bedrooms and a staff bedroom, the house and its two-bedroom attached guesthouse have a combined 15,700 total square feet, including the basement level, town records show. The lot measures about an acre.
$51.63 million, 200 Via Palma
Completely rebuilt by Jeanne S. Siegel and her late husband, investor and businessman Herbert J. Siegel, this 1952 mansion in the Estate Section sold in July to Geats LLC, a Delaware-registered limited liability company. Broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates represented Siegel, and Frisbie acted for buyer. Measuring about nine-tenths of an acre, the lot has 140 feet of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway. The house has nine bedrooms and 12,441 total square feet.
$51.25 million, 200 S. Ocean Blvd.
Becky Gochman, an equestrian, and husband David H. Gochman, a businessman and investor, in May sold this custom home they built for themselves in 2018. The buyer of the Midtown estate facing the ocean was a Delaware-registered limited liability company named WPB Investments 1 LLC. McCann was the listing agent. Douglas Elliman Real Estate agents Phatavanh Olsen and Derek Olsen represented the buyer. The four-bedroom house and separate two-bedroom guesthouse have 8,948 total square feet. The main lot and its beach parcel total about an acre.
$50 million, 940 N. Lake Way
Billionaire investor and entrepreneur Harvey Cooper Jones in May sold this vacant lakefront lot for the same price he had paid for the property in 2023. He sold the North End lot to a Delaware-registered limited liability company named after the property’s address. Angle represented the buyer. Sotheby’s International Realty agents Todd and Frances Peter acted on behalf of Jones, who had razed a 1970s house on the lot, which measures four-fifths of an acre.
$49 million, 315 Chapel Hill Road
This lakefront house in Midtown was sold in June by the estate and children of the late industrialist and entrepreneur William “Bill” E. Flaherty. The buyer was a Delaware-registered limited liability company named Ocean Breezes 2 LLC. Angle handled both sides of the sale. Built in 1987, the five-bedroom house and its three-bedroom guesthouse have a combined 6,438 square feet of living space, inside and out. With about 200 feet of lakefront, the double lot measures four-fifths of an acre and includes a narrow strip of land on the west side of the Lake Trail walking path.
$42.5 million, 101 Jungle Road
A trust in the name of the late Elaine Schuster sold this oceanside estate in October. The Estate Section house had been the longtime home of Schuster, a Democratic political activist and her late businessman husband, Gerry. A Wisconsin-registered limited liability company named PB Jungle 101 LLC bought the property. Angle held the listing, and Brandt acted on behalf of the buyer. The property measures nearly an acre, including a parcel with 200 feet of beachfront on the opposite side of the coastal road. Built in 1955 but later extensively renovated and expanded, the six-bedroom house has 13,230 total square feet.
$39 million, 10 Via Vizcaya
This 2007 Mediterranean-style estate changed hands in May in the Estate Section. The estate was sold by a Florida limited liability company named after the property’s address and managed by siblings Darlene Yelvington and Gary Yelvington, state business records show. The buyer, represented by Brandt, was a limited liability company named Sugar Magnolias LLC. Agent Heidi Wicky of Sotheby’s International Realty held the listing for the property but withdrew it from the multiple listing service April 30. With 10,720 total square feet, the six-bedroom house stands on an irregularly shaped double lot of about two-thirds of an acre. The property has 117 feet of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway.
Highest-dollar condo sale: $15.7 million, Penthouse A, 101 Worth Ave.
Recorded in September, the off-market sale of this oceanfront penthouse in Midtown’s Kirkland House condominium building set a building price record and was the third highest-dollar sale ever of an oceanfront condo in Palm Beach. Retired Connecticut construction executive and attorney Roderic “Rod” M. Oneglia was among three trustees who sold the penthouse through a trust in his name. The buyer was longtime Palm Beach resident and investments specialist Nicholas “Nick” Adams. Sotheby’s International Realty agents Bobby Goodnough and Raj Shrestha acted on behalf of Adams. Agent Anne Carmichael of Brown Harris Stevens represented Oneglia and the other trustees. The renovated three-bedroom condo — facing the ocean on the northeast corner of the sixth floor —has 4,630 square feet of total living space, including 800 square feet on its balconies.