Former BlackRock exec pays $9M for Palm Beach house with Mar-a-Lago membership included

A former executive at BlackRock bought a Palm Beach house for $8.7 million — and it comes with membership to Mar-a-Lago Club.

Douglas Waggoner and his wife, Karin, bought the 7,377-square-foot home at 137 Woodbridge Road, records show. The house is just north of President Donald Trump’s 128-room Mar-a-Lago.

Built in 2002, the gated Mediterranean-style home has six bedrooms, a pool, a library and a three-car garage. The listing for the Woodbridge Road house promises membership to Mar-a-Lago for the buyer. All homeowners on Woodbridge Road have Mar-a-Lago membership fees waived when they become members, according to the Palm Beach Daily News. Members generally pay an initial $200,000 plus $14,000 in annual fees.

Jim and Gail Fiume sold the home. Jim Fiume founded Houston-based specialty contractor Gulf Coast Windows in 1983, according to the company’s website.

Alison Newton with Douglas Elliman represented the seller. Christine Franks with Sotheby’s International represented the buyer.

The Fiumes paid $8.9 million for the house in 2017, records show. It was listed in October for $10.4 million, with a price drop in January to $9.9 million.

Douglas Waggoner is a senior adviser at Star Mountain Capital, a New York-based specialized asset management firm focused on the U.S. lower middle-market, according to its website. He has more than 40 years of financial and executive management experience, including 20-plus years at BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. He left BlackRock in 2018 as a managing director and senior member of the institutional client business.

Other homeowners who have bought property near Mar-a-Lago lately include a major fundraiser to the Republican Party, who paid $7.7 million in March for a 5,886-square-foot house, and a jazz musician who paid $7.5 million the same month for a 5,998-square-foot house.