Russian billionaire scores demolition permit to raze Trump’s former estate in Palm Beach

Four months after Palm Beach’s Architectural Commission signed off on the demolition, a company affiliated with Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev has scored the permit it needs to raze a massive 6-acre estate formerly owned by presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The permit covers the main 62,000-square-foot home, according to the Palm Beach Daily News, plus a separate tennis house with guest rooms, pool house and swimming pool.

Mauro Brothers, a contracting firm based out of Boynton Beach, will handle the demolition. It’s unclear when the estate will actually be razed, according to the Daily News, but a chain-link fence already wraps the property.

The home, located at 515 North County Road, is owned by a limited liability company named County Road Property. As part of his highly publicized $4.5 billion divorce with wife Elena, Dmitry Rybolovlev was outed as the home’s true owner. He paid Trump $95 million for the estate in 2008, marking Palm Beach’s priciest home sale ever. Forbes pegs his net worth at $7.7 billion, and reported that he made his fortune off investing in Russian industries like potassium fertilizers.

His plans for the 6-acre waterfront estate once it’s vacant are yet unknown, but the property would become a prime piece of developable land in a town where vacant beachfront parcels are a rarity. [Palm Beach Daily News] — Sean Stewart-Muniz