Tech tycoons enter SoFla market with $15M purchase of Palm Beach vacation rentals

Chad and Doug Clark plan revamp of boutique building near ocean

Tech tycoons Chad and Doug Clark in front of 106 Hammon Avenue in Palm Beach (Rubenstein PR)
Tech tycoons Chad and Doug Clark in front of 106 Hammon Avenue in Palm Beach (Rubenstein PR)

Tech tycoons Chad and Doug Clark made their first South Florida real estate investment, paying $14.7 million for a boutique Palm Beach vacation rental property.

The brothers bought the six-unit building at 106 Hammon Avenue, in an off-market deal, according to broker Sabra Kirkpatrick. The property is one lot away from the ocean and a block away from Worth Avenue.

(Courtesy of Rubenstein PR)

Kirkpatrick and Richard Berman, of Brown Harris Stevens, represented the seller and the buyer.

The Clarks are founders of Splikity software that saves customers’ passwords, synchronizes the data to their devices and enters it on various websites. Splikity is based in the Greater Phoenix area.

An entity managed by real estate investor Jean Bernard Pierre Louis sold the two-story building. It paid $5.6 million for it in 2016, according to records.

The units, fully furnished and each with two bedrooms and two baths, are currently all leased on a month-to-month basis, Kirkpatrick said. The building was renovated about 15 years ago.

It was built in 1940, property records show.

Monthly rents are about $12,500, according to Doug Clark.

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They plan renovations, including new furniture and decor that highlights the Palm Beach style, but also gives it “a little bit of a modern flair,” Chad Clark said.

The property’s small, homey style offers vacationers to Palm Beach an alternative from other options on the island, Doug Clark said.

“Typically it’s in big condo high-rise buildings, and this gives residents a really boutique feel and also kind of like a single-family feel,” he said. “It’s what I would want if I were renting a place on the island.”

The Clarks said they also have real estate investments in Arizona and California.

Palm Beach, home to renowned shopping and dining stretch Worth Avenue, is not known as a vacation rental hotspot. The barrier island is better known for its mansions, owned by celebrities, royalty and honchos in various industries.

(Courtesy of Rubenstein PR)

In recent months, mansions have traded for eye-popping prices.

This month, Jordanian Princess Alia Bint Hussein, the daughter of former King Hussein bin Talal, sold her waterfront home at 1330 North Lake Way for $45.4 million.

Also this month, fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and his wife, Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger, flipped their non-waterfront home for $12 million, or 33 percent more than they paid a year ago. Fox News host and political correspondent Bret Baier and his wife, Amy Baier, were the buyers.