After much deliberation and three hearings, an infamous parcel of Palm Beach real estate is entering its next chapter.
The Palm Beach Architectural Commission approved plans for a two-story, 10,000-square-foot mansion at 360 El Brillo Way, a 0.8-acre waterfront property left vacant by last year’s bulldozing of Jeffrey Epstein’s former mansion, where the late financier and convicted sex offender was accused of abusing dozens of young girls.
Now, more than two years since Epstein’s suicide in prison and months after his longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years for her role in Epstein’s crimes, their physical legacy in the wealthy island enclave is being paved over for good.
David Skok, a partner at the Massachusetts-based venture capital firm Matrix, and his interior designer wife, Mally Skok, bought the property from spec homebuilder Todd Michael Glaser for $25.8 million last October.
The couple hired Dailey Janssen Architects to draw up plans for a new home on the site, which were first presented to the Architectural Commission in May. The project had four letters of support and two letters of opposition at the time.
According to the meeting minutes, commission members largely avoided discussing the property’s history, but highlighted other profound concerns, such as member Maisie Grace’s questioning of “the lack of prominence of the front door.”
The commission unanimously voted to defer the project.
At an August presentation of revised plans, members remained unsatisfied. Richard Sammons, the commission’s vice chair, thought the designs were “too glassy.”
“It’s just not good architecture; I really despise that,” he said.
The commission was mostly satisfied with the designs by the end of that meeting, agreeing to approve the plans after a final review of changes to the pool pavilion and dining loggia.
The third time was the charm for the Skok’s plans, though not after some further deliberation. Architect Roger Janssen presented a final version of the plans with a new octagonal pool pavilion and two extra columns for the dining loggia.
Sammons raised concerns about the balance between the pavilion’s roof and supporting columns.
“In a way, its awkwardness is cute and charming,” he said. “She’s got thick ankles.”
Commission member John David Corey had a final request, asking Janssen if he could “thin up the ankles a whisker,” and then led the motion to approve the project.
The approval marks a step forward for the property, which has been vacant since the Epstein mansion was demolished.
Glaser and his partners bought the property for $18.5 million last year and bulldozed the existing six-bedroom, 14,000-square-foot residence. Glaser planned to build a spec home with designs by Miami-based architect Kobi Karp, but his plans were flatly rejected by the Architectural Commission in August of last year, with one official calling the designs “alien.”
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