Newsmax Media CEO sells office building in West Palm Beach

A company managed by Christopher Ruddy, CEO of the conservative media brand Newsmax Media, just sold an office building in West Palm Beach for $8.3 million, property records show.

Brandywine Centre II, a 61,900-square-foot office building at 560 Village Boulevard, traded for $134 per square foot. Records show the buyers, North King Apartments LLC and Royal King Apartments LLC, are led by investors Shlomo Chelminsky and Yakov and Cheryl Cohen.

According to published reports, Ruddy bought the office complex in 2003 for $8.55 million, through a company called Palm Beach Property Group LLC. The recorded sales price in county records show Ruddy bought Brandywine Centre II for $7.9 million – meaning the sale may have included off-market expenses.

Avison Young’s Mark Rubin, Keith O’Donnell, and Gary Gottlieb had the listing, according to an online brochure. Neither were immediately available to comment.

Ruddy, a friend of President Trump’s, took 4,000 square feet in the building, where larger tenants include Prudential Insurance Co. and the Gary Carter Foundation charity, according to online marketing materials. His company’s headquarters is in Boca Raton.

Divine Blalock Martin & Sellari, Online Trading Academy, Recovery Home Care Services, and restaurant Renegades Country Western Bar, occupy Brandywine Centre II’s neighboring office complex, Brandywine Centre I.

Chelminsky is a North Miami businessman, whose family owns a portfolio of apartment buildings throughout Miami. A chunk of his holding companies faced foreclosures in 2009 over delinquent loans. He’s also been sued for a roof collapse in one of his buildings.