Indicted attorney plans to sell Palm Beach building that houses his law firm

Leslie Robert Evans, a Palm Beach attorney who pleaded not guilty to fraud involving a hotel and condominium development, is trying to sell the commercial building where his law firm is located.

Evans, 70, and developer Robert V. Matthews, 60, both pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding investors in Palm House, a hotel and condo development at 160 Royal Palm Way in Palm Beach. Their trial may start in September.

In May, Evans sold an apartment building with street-level retail space at 249 Royal Poinciana Way for slightly less than $4 million.

Now the indicted attorney is trying to sell his two-story commercial building at 215 Brazilian Avenue in Palm Beach.

A promotional postcard with the headline “Just Listed” describes the commercial building as a 15,546-square-foot property with a 97.3 percent occupancy rate.

The return address on the postcard is the location of the Boca Raton office of commercial real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield.

Evans’ 14 tenants at the building include Rapunzel’s Closet, a store owned by his daughter Randi Evans Siegal. His law firm, Leslie Robert Evans & Associates, occupies space on the second floor.

A company controlled by Evans bought the building in 1999 for $2.65 million.

A federal grand jury indicted Evans, Matthews and others for allegedly  conspiring to cheat foreign investors who thought they were putting money into a renovation of the Palm House, an unfinished project that stopped in 2014. [Palm Beach Daily News] – Mike Seemuth