Worries of the Trump Effect turning negative for our beloved island have been proven unfounded as the real estate market has taken off to the upside.

The Palm Beach Daily News Darrell Hoffheinz aptly documents and

 

Palm Beach real estate: What were the season’s biggest sales?

 

The season that just ended saw Palm Beach homebuyers and sellers inking contracts at a dizzying pace, a sea change from the same eight-month period last year.

And real estate watchers whose eyes were trained on the top of the market likely found their heads swimming as they tried to keep track of all the digits in the sales prices recorded with the deeds.

Here’s a look at the single family properties that sold between Oct. 1 and May 1 at recorded prices above $17 million. There were a dozen of those deals this season, compared to just seven for the same period 12 months ago.

And proving that waterfront land never goes out of style, the list includes several vacant lots as well as houses slated for demolition.

The listing also includes the top six condominium sales, each sold at a price topping $6 million.

Unless otherwise noted, quoted are the ones recorded by the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office.

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SINGLE FAMILY PROPERTIES AND LAND

$39 million— 1473 N. Ocean Blvd.: The biggest single-family sale involved the North End oceanfront vacation estate of Diane Halle and her late husband, Discount Tire billionaire Bruce Halle, who died Jan. 4. The buyers in the March sale were investment entrepreneurs William C. Powers and Marianne Elaine Elmasri. With a total of 17,804 square feet, the house, built in 1960, and guesthouse, added in 1972, have four bedrooms each. They stand on a lot of nearly 2 acres with 156 feet of ocean frontage. Listing agents Cristina Condon and Todd F. Peter of Sotheby’s International Realty negotiated opposite broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate, who acted for the buyers.

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$37.375 million — 1800 S. Ocean Blvd.: On Billionaires Row, the ocean-to-lake estate socialite Mary Montgomery shared with her late husband, attorney Robert M. Montgomery Jr., sold in April to a buyer whose identity remains cloaked behind a Florida limited liability company named after the property’s address. The town already has green-lighted the demolition of the Mediterranean-style mansion and outbuildings, which have 26,351 total square feet. The 2½-acre property has 300 feet of beachfront and nearly the same amount of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway. The estate was technically listed with broker Bill Yahn of the Corcoran Group because agent Jim McCann, who closed the deal, had the listing there before he left for Premier Estate Properties. Brown Harris Stevens agents A. Whitney McGurk and Liza Pulitzer represented the buyer in the sale.

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$37 million — 535 N. County Road:The second of three lots subdivided from an oceanfront estate once owned by President Donald Trump changed hands in October for $37 million. The 2-acre vacant lot is the northernmost of the lots carved from the estate that Trump sold for a recorded $95 million in 2008 to a company linked to businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev. A Rybolovlev family trust controls the limited liability company that sold the property in this season’s deal to an entity affiliated with Boca Raton-based luxury homebuilder Mark Pulte of Mark Timothy Inc. In March, Pulte won the town’s approval to built a contemporary-style house on the lot. Broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates handled both sides of the sale in October.

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$29.14 million — 901 N. Ocean Blvd.:This 2.3-acre oceanfront estateimmediately north of the Palm Beach Country Club sold as two separate lots for $14.57 million each in simultaneous transactions in December. Developer Pat Carney spearheaded both deals and bought the northernmost lot, since re-addressed as 905 N. Ocean Blvd., where he and his wife, Lillian, plan to build a home for their use. An entity affiliated with real estate developer Clark Beaty bought the other lot, where Beaty has struggled to win the Architectural Commission’s approval for a house he wants to build on speculation; a number of neighbors say the project should be scaled down. The land was sold by a trust in the name of the late Lorraine Friedman, who had lived there in a 1970s-era compound with her late husband, Jack. The buildings were demolished before the sale closed. Agent Jim McCann — then of the Corcoran Group but today with Premier Estate Properties — handled both sales.

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$23.8 million — 735 Island Drive: A Florida limited liability company in October paid a recorded $23.8 million for a house at 735 Island Drive. The Everglades Island property was sold by an entity affiliated with the estate of the late Stephen Ames, who built the house with his wife, Ann. The seven-bedroom, 11,775-square foot house was co-listed by agents Mary Boykin and Crissy Poorman of Sotheby’s International Realty. Linda Gary of Linda A. Gary Real Estate represented the buyer.

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$22.25 million— 726 Hi-Mount Road: Investments executive Jeffrey B. Lane and his wife, Nancy, in January sold their Colonial-style, four-bedroom house— with 150 feet of Intracoastal Waterway frontage — on the street with the highest elevation in town. The buyer of the 10,442-square-foot house was a Boca Raton-based limited liability company co-managed by Irina Liner and Marcel Van Poecke, an entrepreneur and asset manager in the energy industry. The town green-lighted the house’s demolition before the sale. Broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates had the listing, while agent Crista Ryan of Tina Fanjul Associates represented the buyer.

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$21.355 million— 1460 N. Lake Way: Former Town Council President David Rosow and his wife, Jeanne, in April sold their North End custom home, which stands on three-quarters of an acre with 160 feet of lakefront. P.W. Starret paid a recorded $21.355 million for the property, the deed showed. Completed in 2005 with a later garage addition, the five-bedroom house has 15,613 square feet of living space, inside and out. Broker Christian J. Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate had the listing. Brown Harris Stevens agent Ashley Copeland represented the buyer.

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$20.5 million— 460 Worth Ave.: Karl Heinz and Marianne Andresen of Germany in November sold their lakefront mansion at the west end of Worth Avenue to Immohome A.G., a public limited company administered by a Liechtenstein-based trust company. Property records show that its main residence and an outbuilding have a total of 10,847 square feet. The irregularly shaped lot measures about a little more than a third of an acre with about 155 feet of lakefront. Completed in 1991, the Mediterranean-style house was not listed for sale when it sold, and no real estate agents appear to have been involved in the transaction.

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$19.5 million— 1045 S. Ocean Blvd.: Michele “Shelly” Borislow sold her contemporary-style oceanfront house near President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago in February for a recorded $19.5 million. She is the widow of the late communications entrepreneur Dan Borislow, who spearheaded a major renovation at the 1970-era house. Merchant banker and investment manager Lionel Kerrin Vickar bought the four-bedroom house with nearly 10,000 total square feet. The lot measures nearly an acre, including a vacant parcel on the north side. Agent Traci DeGeorge of Waterfront Properties and Club Communities represented the seller, and agent Wally Turner of Sotheby’s International Realty handled the buyer’s side.

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$19.4 million— 910 and 916 S. Ocean Blvd.: In December, two side-by-side vacant lots facing the ocean in the Estate Section changed hands separately in simultaneous transactions totaling nearly $20 million. They were sold by an entity controlled by Michigan businessman Charles “Chuck” E. Becker. Agent Jim McCann, then of the Corcoran Group, was the listing agent, with agents Martin Conroy and Dean Stokes of The Fite Group handling the buyer’s end of both sales.

An entity affiliated with Lifton Green LLC (a company in Southampton, N.Y., run by contractors and developers Bruce Lifton and Jason Green) paid $7.4 million for the northern lot at 910 S. Ocean Blvd. — and then, a month later, sold the lot to another company for $17.59 million. The buyer in the second deal was a company linked to Thomas J. Campbell, founder of DC Capital Partners, a private-equity investment firm. Conroy and Stokes represented the sellers, while Corcoran agents Brad and Pam Miller acted on behalf of the buyer. The lot changed hands both times with plans for a Mediterranean-style houseapproved by the town in September.

Meanwhile, the buyers of the southern lot at 916 S. Ocean Blvd. in December also did a little contractual gymnastics. When the lot sold for $12 million, the initial buyer, Lifton Green LLC, “assigned” the contract to a new owner, a company managed by Brian Stock, CEO of Stock Development, which develops luxury homes in southwest Florida. In April, the Architectural Commission reviewed a house proposed for the lot but asked for revisions to be presented later this month.

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$18.25 million— 89 Middle Road: This landmarked seaside house designed in 1921 by noted society architect Addison Mizner sold in April to Mora Middle Investments Inc., which is headed by developer Larry Morassutti of the Morasutti Group, a Toronto real estate company. The four-bedroom house with 5,541 square feet of living space faces 150 feet of ocean frontage across South Ocean Boulevard. Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate represented the buyer and the seller, British insurance magnate and Palm Beach developer Sir Peter Wood. Audita was once part of the estate owned by the late billionaire John W. Kluge, which Wood bought in 2016 and subdivided into five vacant lots immediately west of Audita.

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$17.68 million — 330 Island Road: In March, an entity affiliated with real estate investors Arthur F. Minerof and Lawrence Genco sold the landmarked house they completely rebuilt on Island Road, the street that connects South County Road to Everglades Island. A trust bought the six-bedroom house, with 9,795 total square feet, facing 126 feet of lakefront. Corcoran Group agents Paulette Koch and Dana Koch had the listing. Sotheby’s International Realty agents Christine Gibbons and Lisa Cregan represented the buyer. Built in 1939, the red-brick house was the longtime home of the late Standard Oil scion and conservationist Frances Archbold Hufty and her late husband, Mann Randolph Page Hufty.

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CONDOS AND CO-OPS

Two members of the family that founded the Hasbro toy empire were responsible for the two highest-dollar condominium sales this season. They were among six sales in multi-family buildings that recorded at more than $6 million.

$13.25 million— No. N-PH2, 2 N. Breakers Row: In December, former Hasbro CEO Alan G. Hassenfeld sold his oceanfront penthouse to his sister, Ellen Hassenfeld Block, in an off-market deal. The sales price worked out to $3,895 per square foot for the three-bedroom condo, which has 3,401 total square feet. The price was the fifth-highest ever fetched by a condo in Palm Beach — and the third-highest for a unit on the ocean. The apartment is on the northeast corner of the northern building in the two-building development, where some of the most expensive condos in town change hands. The buildings stand on beachfront property owned by The Breakers. It’s unclear whether any real estate agents were involved in the sale.

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$11.5 million— No. S-24, 2 N. Breakers Row:Ellen Hassenfeld Block in Aprilsold her longtime condo in the south building of the complex where she had bought her brother’s penthouse in December. She sold her three-bedroom unit — with 3,322 total square feet —and a pool cabana to a buyer who is likely retired investment banker Richard L. Menschel. The buyer paid $3,461 per square foot, based on sales price. Broker Cristina Condon of Sotheby’s International Realty handled both sides of the deal, which marked the fifth-most-expensive unit ever to sell at 2 N. Breakers Row.

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$6.75 million— No. S-41, 2 N. Breakers Row: A company linked to textile investor Martin Trust in December bought the three-bedroom condo and a cabana in the south building from Clarke Avenue Investments Inc., a Delaware entity for which Etienne Ramos-Esteban Jr. served as president. With some ocean views, the condo has 3,243 square feet of living space, inside and on its balcony. The purchase price worked out to $2,081 per square foot. Corcoran Group agents Suzanne Frisbie, Dana Koch and Paulette Koch shared the listing. Broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens acted for the buyer. Martin Trust and his wife, Diane, own another unit at 2 N. Breakers, which they bought five years ago when they sold their Palm Beach home to shock-jock Howard Stern and his wife, Beth Ostrosky.

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$7.9 million— PH C, 425 Worth Ave.: The estate of the late Ulf L. Albert sold this four-bedroom, lakeview penthouse at The Villas to corporate-insurance specialist Peter Van Ingen in March. The co-operative unit has 6,466 square feet of living space, inside and on its wraparound terrace. Based on the total space, the buyer paid $1,223 per square foot. Broker Linda Olsson of Linda R. Olsson Inc. had the listing opposite agent Patricia Mahaney of Sotheby’s International Realty.

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$7 million— Unit 614/616, 100 Worth Ave.: At the Winthrop House, this two-bedroom condo was sold in March by Linda J. and Thomas Grudovich, who had combined side-by-side apartments on the sixth floor to total 3,993 square feet. A trust paid $1,753 per square foot based on the total square footage. Broker Christine Franks of Wilshire International Realty had the listing, and agent Crista Ryan of Tina Fanjul Associates negotiated for the buyer.

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$6.7 million— 7 PHS, 3000 S. Ocean Blvd.: Toronto hedge-fund manager Anne L. Spork sold her three-bedroom penthouse and its poolside cabana at Bellaria via a deed recorded May 2. Financial executive Dexter D. Earle and his wife, Carol A. Zipkin, bought the condo, which has 7,191 total square feet of living space inside and on its balconies. In the south building of the two-building complex, the condo sold for $932 per square foot. The sale price — which didn’t include the furnishings that changed hands in the deal — set a building record. The apartment faces the ocean and also offers views of the Intracoastal Waterway. Agents John M. Campbell and Colleen Jackson Hanson, both of the Corcoran Group, had the listing. Brown Harris Stevens agents A. Whitney McGurk and Liza Pulitzer acted on behalf of the buyers.

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$6.4 million— No. 4C, 120 Sunset Ave.: At the Leverett House — just north of The Breakers — this fourth-floor apartment sold at $1,730 per square foot, figured on the unit’s overall size of 3,700 total square feet, according to a listing updated April 30 in the Palm Beach Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. The sellers were Ronald G. and Cindy L. McMackin, who own a pipe manufacturing business. As of press time, the buyer’ identity was unknown, because a deed for the sale had not been recorded. Broker Lawrence A. Moens handled both sides of the deal.