Insurance exec buys Palm Beach estate for $15M

UPDATED, July 25, 5:43 p.m.: An insurance executive paid over $15 million for a Palm Beach mansion.

The Tomsich family sold their estate at 151 Via Bellaria to Peter Worth of Alliant Insurance Services for $15.4 million. It hit the market in October for $24 million – a price that included a half-acre lot the Tomsich family is holding on to. The 13,826-square-foot home was relisted in February, without the lot, for $17 million.

It’s the latest of a number of ultra-high-end residential sales to close in Palm Beach this summer. The $105 million sale of 1295 South Ocean Boulevard in June marked a new record for the most expensive single-family home sale in the town. And earlier this month, the former estate of convicted fraudster and developer Robert Matthews sold for $30.2 million to Vahan and Danielle Gureghian, a couple who run a charter school business.

The estate of Robert J. Tomsich, founder and chairman of Nesco Inc., a small food appliance maker, and Suzanne Tomsich sold the Via Bellaria property.

Robert Tomsich died in August 2018. The couple, native to Cleveland and longtime residents of Palm Beach, were also philanthropists, most recently giving $2 million to create an endowment fund to Cleveland Clinic Florida, which renamed its West Palm Beach facility after them in 2017.

Worth, the buyer,  joined Alliant when his company, American Benefits Consulting, an employee benefits consulting firm, was acquired by Newport Beach, California-based Alliant in 2015.

The five-bedroom mansion sold for $1,115 per square foot. It sits on a 1.14-acre lot. Jim McCann of Premier Estate Properties was the listing agent, according to Zillow.

The Palm Beach property features gardens, two two-car garages, a master suite and separate cabana. It last sold in 1998 for $5.5 million.

Chris Leavitt of Douglas Elliman represented the buyer. He declined to comment.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Peter Worth is chairman of Alliant.