SafeCard Services founder sells Palm Beach home for $22M

Seller Peter Halmos scored a large settlement in late 1990s

The five bedroom Palm Beach mansion (Realtor via Douglas Elliman)
The five bedroom Palm Beach mansion (Realtor via Douglas Elliman)

A non-waterfront Palm Beach mansion that has been in the same family for more than 36 years sold for $21.5 million, as high-end residential sales continue to soar on the tony island.

Property records show Peter and Vicki Halmos sold the 8,142-square-foot house at 315 Clarke Avenue to PB Island LLC, a Delaware entity that lists a New York address. It appears to be an off-market deal.

Peter Halmos led the Fort Lauderdale-based credit card insurer SafeCard Services as CEO from 1969 to 1990, according to his LinkedIn. He later founded a family foundation that he still leads. In 1997, he settled a lawsuit with the company that purchased SafeCard for $70.5 million, according to the Sun Sentinel.

Halmos Trading & Investment Co. paid $825,000 for the 0.8-acre property in 1985, later transferring ownership to Halmos and his wife.

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Built in 1928, the Palm Beach mansion has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms and two half-bathrooms. The property includes a pool.

Luxury home sales have jumped throughout South Florida, but Palm Beach has seen the biggest deals in recent years, especially following the pandemic.

Last month, private equity investor and former Cleveland Browns president, Alec Scheiner, purchased a non-waterfront home in Palm Beach for $6.1 million.

On the ocean, recent deals include the $28.5 million sale of a waterfront property to an IMAX Corp. board member, and developer Todd Michael Glaser’s $85 million purchase of Tarpon Island, which he acquired with a group of partners.