NJ developer picks up Palm Beach mansion for $17M, 40% discount off original ask

Apartment developer Richard Kurtz just paid nearly $17 million for an oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach that was listed in 2015 for $27.9 million.

Property records show a trust controlled by Sheila Engelstein, wife of the late homebuilder Alec Engelstein, sold the six-bedroom, 9,025-square-foot home at 680 South Ocean Boulevard. The deal closed on Friday.

Alex Engelstein founded Engle Homes, a publicly traded national homebuilding company, according to his obituary. The couple paid $2.2 million for the property in 1993 and built the estate two years later. He died in November.

The two-story home includes an oceanfront master suite with an office, balcony, exercise room, a tunnel to the beach and a pool, according to the listing. It hit the market more than two years ago for $27.9 million, marking a nearly 40 percent difference off the closing price. The asking price was reduced in October to $21.9 million, according to Realtor.com.

Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate represented the seller. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

The buyer heads Kamson Corp., an Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, multifamily company. Kamson owns and manages rental communities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut, according to its website.

Despite the $11 million difference between the original asking and selling prices, the deal is another example of continued investment in Palm Beach’s luxury real estate market. In this cycle, from 2011 to the new year, buyers invested more than $540 million in the county’s top 10 priciest home sales. Six of those top 10 deals closed between 2016 and 2017.