Michael Lorber, star of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing New York” and son of Douglas Elliman Chairman Howard Lorber, has splurged on his very own Palm Beach pad following the season finale of his hit show, he told The Real Deal today.
Lorber paid $1.3 million for his new digs at 241 Orange Grove Road, he said, buying it from a company that owns and rents out hundreds of homes in South Florida. The asking price was $1.49 million.
“I own homes in Nantucket, Boston and New York,” Lorber told The Real Deal, but nothing in Florida until now. “I hope to spend holidays there.”
The two-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom house totals 1,597 square feet. Built in 1952, it was renovated in 2003 and features a swimming pool in the back garden. It also comes with direct access to the beach.
Senada Adžem, director of Douglas Elliman Florida’s Boca Raton division, represented Lorber, while Samantha Curry of Fite Shavell & Associates listed the property. The deal closed last week.
Adžem said there was an added pressure representing her boss’ son: “I had to make sure he got the best possible price,” she said.
Since childhood, Lorber has spent winters with his family on Fisher Island in Miami Beach, but this will be the first Florida home he owns personally, he said.
The Elliman broker was drawn to Palm Beach because he has many friends in the area, he said. The home’s proximity to the Palm Beach Country Club and to Stubbs & Wooten, the retailers of the famed handmade slipper he wears on “Million Dollar Listing,” were also deciding factors, he joked.
He’s enlisted a friend who used to work for Ralph Lauren to help upgrade the home’s design, which he said is in need of some cosmetic retouching.
While based primarily in New York, Lorber is currently vacationing in New England, he said, for the opening of Cru, a new oyster bar and seafood hangout overlooking Nantucket harbor, which he invested in with some friends. He will begin filming the second season of “Million Dollar Listing New York” later this year.