Toronto asset manager pays nearly $10M for Palm Beach home

Steve Hudson bought the house from Sotheby’s International Realty's Elizabeth Sorrel

Steven Hudson, 309 Dunbar Road home
Steven Hudson, 309 Dunbar Road home

The CEO of a Toronto financial services firm just purchased a Palm Beach home from a longtime South Florida realtor for $9.8 million.

Steven Hudson, the CEO of ECN Capital, bought the 7,169-square-foot home at 309 Dunbar Road from Elizabeth Sorrel for 1,366 per square foot.

The Palm Beach home was built in 2016 and is near the bayside of Dunbar Road. The colonial home has five bedrooms, five full baths and two half-bathrooms. Other amenities include large patios, a pool, spa and gardens.

Hudson made a name for himself providing financing for equipment and vehicle dealers shortly after the recession. His company, Element Financial Corp., grew its assets from $20 million in 2011 to $25 billion in 2016, after buying GE Capital’s fleet management business for $8.9 billion in 2015. It became one of the largest fleet management companies in the world. The company split into two separate entities recently, with Hudson heading ECN Capital, which has an office in Boca Raton.

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Sorrel is an agent with Sotheby’s International Realty and has lived in Palm Beach for the past 20 years, according to Sotheby’s International’s website. Sorrel purchased an existing home on the property for $2.73 million in June 2014 and tore it down to build the Colonial-style house, property records show.

The house was listed for $9.98 million in May.

Hudson is one of many high net worth private equity or investment managers to buy a residence in Palm Beach in recent years. Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has spent at least $250 million over the past six years acquiring property for a huge compound at Blossom Way in Palm Beach.

More wealthy individuals from the Northeast could migrate to South Florida in coming years, according to some tax attorneys, due to changes in President Trump’s tax law limiting the deductions of state and local income taxes.