Hedge funder sells oceanfront Manalapan estate for over $90M

James River Capital Corp. founder and his wife completed the home last year

Paul Saunders and the house (Google Maps, James River Capital)
Paul Saunders and the house (Google Maps, James River Capital)

Hedge fund manager Paul Saunders sold his oceanfront Manalapan mansion for more than $90 million.

Saunders, founder of James River Capital Corp., based in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia, and his wife, Victoria Saunders, sold the newly built estate at 1020 South Ocean Boulevard in Manalapan, according to the Wall Street Journal. The buyer is unknown and the deal has not yet been recorded.

The sale adds to a growing number of high-priced deals to close in Palm Beach and neighboring towns since the pandemic began early last year. In February, Tiger Global Management founder Scott Shleifer paid $122.7 million for an oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, setting a record for residential sales in Florida and marking one of the most expensive home sales in the U.S.

The 16,077-square-foot, five bedroom Manalapan estate that just traded has seven bathrooms and two half-bathrooms. It was completed last year and features a golf simulator room and outdoor putting green, according to the Journal.

The Saunderses lived in the home, as they claimed homestead exemption on it, records show. The couple paid $14.5 million for the nearly 2.2-acre lot in 2018. It has more than 200 feet of ocean frontage and a sliver of land fronting the Intracoastal Waterway with a dock.

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Senada Adzem of Douglas Elliman represented the sellers. She declined to comment. Chris Leavitt and Ashley McIntosh of Elliman, who declined to comment through a spokesperson, represented the buyers.

Sales of properties for tens of millions of dollars have become common in Palm Beach, Manalapan and other nearby cities on the barrier island. Recent deals include the $35.6 million sale of the mansion at 134 El Vedado Road in Palm Beach and the $41 million trade of 1700 South Ocean Boulevard, also in Palm Beach.

In March, the Ziff family finally sold their massive 15-acre ocean-to-lake estate in Manalapan for $94 million, six years after it was first listed for just under $200 million.

[WSJ] – Katherine Kallergis