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$85 million and up: Top 10 most expensive homes in Palm Beach. 2 have a Trump tie

Darrell Hofheinz
Palm Beach Daily News

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In Palm Beach, multi-million-dollar real estate is always a big deal. 

But some deals are bigger than others. 

Here’s a list of the top 10 highest-dollar sales of single properties to ever have lightened a wallet in Palm Beach. 

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The most expensive house to ever sell in Palm Beach was developed on speculation and changed hands, furnished, in February 2021 for a recorded $122.65 million at 535 N. County Road.

Most expensive sale: $122.65 million, 535 N. County Road

The most expensive sale closed in February 2021, when a never-lived-in beachfront mansion at 535 N. County Road sold for $122.65 million, the price recorded at the Palm Beach County Courthouse. The company that bought the house was linked to private-equity specialist Scott Schleifer, represented by New York City broker Ryan Serhant of Serhant and agent Christopher Leavitt of Douglas Elliman Real Estate. Broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates, who had an investment stake in the house, represented the seller, a company controlled by developer Mark Pulte of Mark Timothy Inc. The house occupies land once owned by former President Donald Trump.

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An ocean-to-lake estate built by Dr. Ernst A. Langner and his wife, Nataly, at 1840 S. Ocean Blvd. in Palm Beach sold in June 2021 for a recorded $109.625 million, the price recorded with the deed.

$109.63 million, 1840 S. Ocean Blvd.

In June 2021, seasonal resident Dr. Ernst Langner of Hamburg, Germany, sold for a recorded $109.63 million the ocean-to-lake estate he and his wife, Nataly, built as a custom residence at 1840 S. Ocean Blvd. A trust was on the buyer’s side of the sale, and Moens handled both sides.

A photo taken several years ago shows part of the Palm Beach oceanfront facade of 1415 S. Ocean Blvd., which Steven and Brooke Schonfeld bought through a trust for a recorded $105 million in December 2019.

$105 million, 1415 S. Ocean Blvd.

In December 2019, Matrix Essentials beauty mogul Sydell Miller sold the beachfront parcel of her ocean-to lake estate at 1415 S. Ocean Blvd. for a recorded $105 milllion to hedge-fund manager Steven Schonfeld and his wife, Brooke Kaplan Schonfeld. The buyers of the mansion were represented by broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate, with Moens acting for Miller. (In February, Miller sold her lakefront parcel, at 1440 S. Ocean Blvd., for a recorded $42 million in a sale handled on both sides by Moens.) 

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An ocean-to-lake estate at 1295 S. Ocean Blvd. changed hands in July for a recorded $104.99 million. It was sold by the estate of the late Broadway producer Terry Allen Kramer.

$104.99 million, 1295 S. Ocean Blvd.

The price recorded for the Miller/Schonfeld oceanfront deal barely eclipsed the $104.99 million priced documented in July 2019 when the late investment-firm heiress Terry Allen Kramer's ocean-to-lake estate at 1295 S. Ocean Blvd. sold privately. The buyer was an entity said to be linked to billionaire hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin, whose massive estate lay immediately to the south. Moens handled the buyer’s side opposite Douglas Elliman agents Gary Pohrer, Ashley McIntosh, Cara Coniglio McClure, Lisa Wilkinson and Adam McPherson. 

In 2019, an entity associated with billionaire Ken Griffin paid $99.13 for a since-demolished beachfront house with a red roof at 60 Blossom Way. The grassy area at the left is also part of the Griffin estate.

$99.13 million, 60 Blossom Way

In September 2019, Griffin squared off his estate by buying an oceanfront house at 60 Blossom Way for a recorded $99.13 million. The seller was financier and former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank H. McCourt Jr. Moens was involved in the sale. 

(Griffin, by the way, set his own Palm Beach price record with a $129.6-million deal in late 2012, but unlike other sales, Griffin's deal involved a single buyer and multiple sellers in four simultaneous transactions on Blossom Way properties. Moens orchestrated those sales and almost all of the subsequent transactions through which Griffin amassed what is today an ocean-to-lake estate at 1265 S. Ocean Blvd. comprising more than 25 acres. In all, Griffin has paid more than $450 million for his property.) 

A Palm Beach oceanfront mansion at 1341 S. Ocean Blvd. (seen center, closest to ocean) sold privately in May 2021 for a price documented at $95 million.

$95 million, 1341 S. Ocean Blvd.

In May 2021, businessman and investor Edward “Chris” G. Watkins and his wife, Karen, parted with their custom-built mansion at 1341 S. Ocean Blvd. for a recorded $95 million. A trust was on the buyer’s side of the off-market sale. Moens represented the sellers and the buyer.

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In 2008, this beachfront estate at 515 N. County Road in Palm Beach was sold, for a recorded $95 million, by former President Donald Trump to an entity connected to Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev. Rybolovlev later had the house razed and then sold the 6.2-acre estate as three parcels in separate transactions.

$95 million, 515 N. County Road

In July 2008, Trump, then a private real estate developer, sold for a recorded $95 million his 6.25-acre oceanfront investment property at 515 N. County Road. At the time, the sale was the highest-priced U.S. residential transaction in history. The buyer was an entity associated with Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, who made his fortune the fertilizer industry. Moens represented Trump opposite agent Carol Digges of Brown Harris Stevens. In 2016, crews demolished the mansion there and subdivided the land into three parcels, which were later sold separately for a grand total of $108.74 million, according to property records.

In a transaction said to be valued at $85 million or more, Il Palmetto, a landmarked ocean-to-lake estate at 1500 S. Ocean Blvd., changed hands in 2018. Leo and Kathryn Vecellio soon homesteaded the house as their primary residence.

$85 million, 1500 S. Ocean Blvd.

In 2018, Netscape co-founder Jim Clark sold Il Palmetto, his landmarked ocean-to-lake estate at 1500 S. Ocean Blvd. to an entity linked to a longtime Palm Beach couple, Kathryn Vecellio and her businessman husband, Leo A. Vecellio Jr. Because of the way the complex deal was structured, the price was never recorded at the courthouse. But real estate sources say the value of the transaction is said to have hit at least $85 million and approached or perhaps topped $90 million. Property records suggest the deal included an ownership transfer of the Vecellios’ former residence at 120 Jungle Road. Moens is said to have orchestrated the deal.

Seen in the foreground is Tarpon Island, a private island in Palm Beach that sold for $85 million in July 2021 to an investment group headed by developer Todd Michael Glaser. Glaser has planned a major renovation and expansion of the 1930s-era house on the island.

$85 million, 10 Tarpon Way

In July 2021, developer Todd Michael Glaser and an investment group paid a recorded $85 million for 10 Tarpon Way, a 1930s-era house on a private island of more than 2 acres, the only property of its kind in Palm Beach. The sale price set a new town price record for a lakefront property without additional ocean frontage. Agent Jim McCann of Premier Estate Properties acted on behalf of the sellers, private investor William Toll and his wife, Eileen. Agent Suzanne Frisbie of the Corcoran Group Properties was the lead agent representing Glaser’s group, which soon won town approval to renovate and expand the house for resale.

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Billionaire Ken Griffin paid $85 million for this oceanfront house at 1290 S. Ocean Blvd to expand his Palm Beach estate next door.

$85 million, 1290 S. Ocean Blvd.

In January 2017, Griffin embarked on his expansion of his Palm Beach land holdings by paying a recorded $85 million for a 4-acre next-door estate at 1290 S. Ocean Blvd. His crews then demolished the house and cleared the land. The sellers were real estate developer Paul Saville and wife Linda. Moens handled the negotiations. 

dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com

@PBDN_hofheinz