Manalapan compound poised to sell for Florida-record $175M

A 16-acre compound in Palm Beach County is poised to become not only the priciest home ever sold in Florida, but one of the most expensive in U.S. history.

Jim Clark, a Silicon Valley billionaire who co-founded Netscape with Marc Andreessen in 1994, is nearing a sale of his oceanfront estate in Manalapan for around $175 million, he told the Wall Street Journal. The off-market deal is expected to close this week, Clark said, declining to identify the buyer.

2000 South Ocean Boulevard in Manalapan (Sotheby’s)

The home, should it fetch that price, would be by far the priciest ever sold in the Sunshine State. No residence in Florida has sold for more than $130 million, according to appraiser Miller Samuel.

While there have been some listings in the ballpark of Clark’s expected return for the estate at 2000 South Ocean Boulevard, the record sale appears to belong to a spec home in Palm Beach that private equity titan Scott Shleifer bought last year for $122.7 million.

A $175 million sale of the Manalapan estate would nearly double the $94 million Clark spent last year when he bought it from the Ziff family, who had once listed the home for $195 million.

Palm Beach-based luxury broker Lawrence Moens is handling the sale.

The compound, which spans the width of the barrier island, has 1,200 feet of ocean frontage and another 1,300 feet along Lake Worth. The property includes a 62,000-square-foot, 12-bedroom main house as well as a separate seven-bedroom house, two four-bedroom beachside cottages and a staff house. Outside are botanical gardens, a swimming pool, a three-hole golf course, a tennis court and a basketball half-court. Parts of the estate are connected by tunnels, including a 15-foot-wide furnished one beneath South Ocean Boulevard.

Last year, Clark sold a separate estate at 120 Jungle Road in Palm Beach for $30.1 million.

The most expensive home purchase in American history belongs to Citadel founder Ken Griffin, who paid $238 million for a penthouse at 220 Central Park South in Manhattan in 2019.

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[WSJ] — Holden Walter-Warner