William Lauder lists Palm Beach properties for record $200M

Cosmetics heir William Lauder has listed two adjacent, empty Palm Beach parcels for an eye watering $200 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.

If the oceanfront parcels — at 1063 and 1071 North Ocean Boulevard — fetch that price, it will be the most expensive sale for vacant land in Palm Beach history, the Palm Beach Post reported.

Jim McCann of Premier Estate Properties has the listing. 

The parcels, which can be subdivided, total a little more than 2.3 acres and have about 360 feet of beachfront, the listing says.

In 2020, a Delaware LLC tied to Lauder bought 1063 North Ocean Boulevard, which had a 10,200-square-foot mansion on less than 1 acre, from the trust of the late business mogul Morton Mandel for $25.4 million.

A year later, another entity tied to Lauder purchased 1071 North Ocean Boulevard, which had a 35,000-square-foot mansion on 1.8 acres, for at least $110 million, according to The Daily Beast.

Both of the homes were subsequently demolished, but not without controversy in the case of 1071 North Ocean Boulevard.

That mansion, which had 16 bathrooms, a gym, barber shop and theater, was just six years old when it was torn down last October.

“I think it’s about the complete waste,” a resident told the Daily Beast at the time. “I mean normal people don’t do that. It’s kind of gross.”

The billionaire Lauder, who is the executive chairman of Estee Lauder Companies, told the Journal in an email Friday he had planned to keep the parcels, but changed his mind. He had town approval in early 2021 to build a home on 1063 North Ocean Boulevard, but never started construction on the project, the Palm Beach Post reported.

The Lauder family figures prominently in Palm Beach real estate.

Last November, the town’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to grant historic designation to the late Estee Lauder’s home at 144 Everglade Avenue. The house, built in 1919 by an unknown architect, sits on half an acre and spans 4,800 square feet, with five bedrooms and four bathrooms, according to records. 

— Ted Glanzer