Former mattress mogul Sam Katz sold his Fort Lauderdale estate across the street from the ocean for $12.6 million, nearly five years after he first listed the property.
Katz sold the home at 1635 North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard to Atlantic Paradise, a Florida entity managed by Kate and Brent Nelson, records show.
Liliya Kalynovych of Coldwell Banker Realty had the listing, and Vicci Read brought the buyers. Kalynovych did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Nelsons are a retired couple originally from California, Read said. Records show they financed the purchase with an $11.4 million mortgage from UBS Bank.
Katz founded the Miami-based bedding retailer Mattress Giant in 1986, and sold the company to Houston-headquartered Mattress Firm for $47 million in 2012, according to published reports. The acquisition added 180 stores to Mattress Firm’s national portfolio, primarily in Florida and Texas, the Houston Business Journal reported.
Records show Katz bought the 0.8-acre estate for $1.1 million in 1998. He commissioned Ellemar Luxury Construction to build the custom 8,000-square-foot, five-bedroom, six-bathroom mansion, and it was completed in 2001, according to property records. The property spans 250 feet along State Road A1A, directly across from the Atlantic Ocean.
According to Read, the property is an assemblage of five contiguous lots. Katz first listed the home with Kevin Kreutzfeld of Premier Estate Properties in 2018 for $18 million. The asking price fluctuated in the following years, until reaching the final $14.5 million listing in June, Redfin shows.
Kreutzfeld called the property a “trophy,” saying, “If you think about it, where else can you get 250 feet of frontage with ocean views, even under $20 million?”
Katz was waiting for the right buyer, Read said. “He didn’t want to sell to a developer,” she said. “He didn’t want the property chopped up into five different lots.”
The Nelsons plan to maintain the architecture of the house, with a gut renovation of the interior, as well as redoing the landscaping and renovating the pool, according to Read.
Read said developers expressed interest in the home, even once it was under contract.
Buyers have been shelling out the money for large waterfront properties in Fort Lauderdale in recent months.
Local insurance executives, brothers Seth and Brad Cohen, bought a historic Fort Lauderdale teardown with 520 feet of waterfront for $19.5 million last month. Also last month, hedge funder Donald Sussman sold a waterfront 0.7-acre lot for $17 million.
In October, Builders Capital CEO Robert Trent bought a waterfront Fort Lauderdale spec mansion for $17 million.