Former Pulte exec buys double condo in Palm Beach for $9M

Why build your own when you can buy?

James Grosfeld, a former executive for one of the nation’s largest homebuilding companies, just bought a double condo at Palm Beach’s Parc Regent building for $8.95 million.

County records show Grosfeld and his wife Nancy bought units 101 and 102 at the five-story lakefront building from a company affiliated with Fakhry Abdelnour, an Egyptian businessman who was featured prominently in a 2005 New York Times article about his oil dealings with the Iraqi government.

Abdelnour bought the side-by-side Parc Regent units in 1991 for a combined $1.68 million. He later transferred the units out of his name in 2003 to a company called 101 Palm Beach Regent, which he controls, through a $2.49 million sale.

County records show he unified the two units’ titles in 2014, though it’s not clear when he actually combined them since the unity was at the town of Palm Beach’s request.

Since it was an off-market deal, photos and details of the interiors are not readily available.

The units measure 5,425 square feet together and have six bedrooms and six bathrooms.

Grosfeld, the condo’s new owner, had served as chairman and and CEO of the PulteGroup for 16 years starting in 1974 before stepping down for a position on the company’s board.

He resigned from his position on the board this year amid internal controversy over the corporate governance of Pulte, currently the nation’s third-largest homebuilding company, according to an April report in the Wall Street Journal.

Grosfeld is also a director and noted investor in BlackRock, an asset management company of which he bought $94 million in stock four years ago.