“Easier way to make a buck”: Glaser, Randall look to flip La Clara PH for $28.5M

Spec developer Todd Glaser closed on a La Clara penthouse in West Palm Beach for $18.8 million, with plans to relist the unit for $28.5 million.

Glaser’s La Clara PH LLC, a Delaware entity, bought unit 2601 in the condominium at 200 Arkona Court, records show. Glaser confirmed he went into contract for the penthouse more than two years ago, and said it’s a better bet to buy in someone else’s West Palm Beach project than build his own.

“It’s an easier way to make a buck,” he said. 

Glaser bought the unit with partner Jim Randall, of Randall Realty, he said. The two have been partners on a number of residential real estate investments, including the historic Tarpon Island, which they listed for $218 million in November of last year. The partners financed the purchase with a $12.2 million loan from JP Morgan Chase Bank, records show.  

Glaser’s purchase price pencils to just under $2,350 per square foot, and the future listing price would work out to just over $3,550 per square foot.

Chris Leavitt of Douglas Elliman and Carol Sollack of Engel & Völkers have the listing, he said.

The 8,000-square-foot penthouse is being decorated by Glaser’s wife, interior designer Kim Glaser, and will be sold fully furnished. The unit includes four bedrooms, four bathrooms, one half-bathroom, a private pool, spa and gym, Todd Glaser confirmed. 

Toronto-based developer Great Gulf completed the 25-story, 83-unit waterfront La Clara this summer. Hariri Pontarini Architects, a Toronto firm, designed La Clara, which includes a pool, fitness center, wine tasting room and lounge, its website shows. The tower sold out for more than $209 million, with buyers including Marvel Studios co-president Louis D’Esposito, financier Christopher Pia, and Stephanie Currey Ingram, a Nashville-based American Express heiress and wife of Ingram Industries scion John Ingram. 

A handful of La Clara buyers have already flipped or listed their units. According to Glaser, that reflects the strength of the West Palm Beach condo market. Many longtime Palm Beach residents are drawn to the ease and modern amenities in new developments like La Clara or the nearby Bristol.  

“West Palm’s hot,” Glaser said. “They don’t want to go to Miami, but they want a little city life. “Every time someone sells something big on Palm Beach it seems like something in Bristol or La Clara sells.”