Multifamily real estate magnate pays $9M for Palm Beach commercial building

Multifamily real estate mogul Joseph “Jay” Biggins, and his clothing and furniture store owner wife, Letty Biggins, paid $8.8 million for a vacant commercial property in Palm Beach.

The Bigginses, through an affiliate, bought the L-shaped building and smaller outbuilding at 353 Peruvian Avenue from Steve & Linda Horn Inc., according to records. This was an off-market deal.

Jay Biggins is founder of a North Palm Beach-based multifamily real estate owner and manager, MultiHousing.com, which focuses on both affordable and market-rate apartment communities in the Southeast U.S., according to the company’s website.

Letty Biggins owns and runs the Lifestyle So Chic store in Palm Beach and the Style So Chic clothing and home accessories boutique in Palm Beach Gardens.

The selling entity is led by Linda Horn, a New York City-based antiques dealer and a former filmmaker, according to her website.

The 6,926-square-foot building, constructed in 1958 on 0.3 acres, last traded for $5.8 million in 2005, property records show. The property has a retail designation but real estate websites such as LoopNet also cite offices as a possible use.

In a post on his LinkedIn, Jay Biggins said a “major upfit” of the property is in store.

“Mixed use [is] not usually my thing but [I] couldn’t pass on this location,” Biggins wrote on his post, adding that it’s a high barrier to entry market.

The Bigginses did not immediately return inquiries about their specific plans for the property.

Palm Beach is known for its sprawling mansions, although it does have a commercial district as well. The Peruvian Avenue property is just over two miles from the Mar-a-Lago Club.

In October, billionaire Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners paid $23 million for a Palm Beach office building where Trian also has an office.

That came on the heels of Spencer Schlager, a partner in CS Ventures, and Charles Rosenberg, of New York City-based Rosemark Management, paying $37.8 million for an office building on Palm Beach’s Bankers Row.

And at the end of 2020, Fortress Investment Group, Hyde Retail Partners and Kean Development sold the Tiffany & Co. building on Palm Beach’s ritzy Worth Avenue for $26.4 million.