Entrepreneur pays $7M for new Fort Lauderdale manse

The 1960s home that formerly occupied the site on Royal Palm Drive in Fort Lauderdale
The 1960s home that formerly occupied the site on Royal Palm Drive in Fort Lauderdale

UPDATED Sept. 3, 11:50 a.m.: high-flying Danish airplane entrepreneur just put down $7.4 million for a newly built Fort Lauderdale mansion.

Martin Moeller Nielsen, who founded the NAC airplane leasing and trading company in Denmark, was recorded Tuesday as the buyer of a home on Royal Plaza Drive in the glamorous East Las Olas neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale. His company’s fleet includes more than 200 turboprop aircraft.

The property was sold by a local company called 2717, with Fiorenna and Aldo Israel as its managing members. Aldo Israel is a real estate developer who operates through his company Premier Home Builders, which builds luxury houses in South Florida.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

Broward County records show the homebuilder paid $1.55 million for the aging 3,916-square-foot home on the property in July of last year. Soon after, Israel knocked down the house and started construction on a new mansion.

The new home never officially hit the MLS, so details are scarce. What’s known is that the house is two stories with seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms and a two-car garage. A new dock was also built as part of the development.

Nielsen owns a home in both Tampa and London, according to a Danish national newspaper. He could have a preference for waterfront real estate — Florida records show his Tampa home faces a lake in a small gated community.