Units Return to Market After La Clara Condo Completed

This month, spec developer Todd Michael Glaser and his partner Jim Randall listed their La Clara penthouse in West Palm Beach for $28.5 million. They had just closed on the unit for $18.8 million.

Reselling newly constructed condos is an “easier way to make a buck,” said Glaser, who entered into a contract to acquire the unit more than two years ago.

He’s not the only one with that idea. Just months after Toronto-based developer Great Gulf completed the 25-story, 83-unit waterfront tower at 200 Arkona Court, 18, or about 20 percent of the units, are listed for sale. Two have resold.

Asking prices for the relisted units start at $3.4 million. Great Gulf began presales at $1.5 million. The combined value of the current listings totals $146.3 million. La Clara’s sellout totaled more than $209 million.

It’s not uncommon for buyers to list their new units after closing on them. That’s especially true when they bought units at the often discounted preconstruction prices. In some cases, buyers have moved or their needs have changed. In others, their plan was always to flip their units for profits once completed.

Engel & Völlkers agent Carol Sollack, who bought a unit in the building for $2.3 million, said some investors purchased at La Clara. She is one of the listing agents for Glaser’s penthouse.

High-profile buyers in the building include financier Christopher Pia; Jonathan Lerner of the developer Lerner family that owns the Washington Nationals baseball team; philanthropist and American Express heiress Stephanie Currey Ingram; and Marvel Studios Co-President Louis D’Esposito.

D’Esposito listed his unit for $7.9 million, after closing on it for $4.8 million in August, records show. The nearly 3,200-square-foot unit includes three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Chris Leavitt and Joey Columbo of Douglas Elliman have the listing.

Leavitt, one of Elliman’s top agents in Palm Beach, led sales of the tower for Great Gulf and now has at least five resale listings at La Clara.

One of his listings is Lynne Eriksen’s condo. The 2,000-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit is asking $5.4 million. She paid $2.3 million.

Eriksen isn’t leaving La Clara, though. She bought unit 701 from Renaissance Properties CEO Kenneth Fishel for $5.5 million in October. Elizabeth DeWoody of Compass represented the seller, and Leavitt brought the buyer.

Leavitt and Columbo are also the listing agents for menswear designer David Heil’s unit on the eighth floor. Heil bought the nearly 3,200-square-foot condo for $4.5 million and relisted it for $7.7 million. It has three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

In September, Columbo represented James and Lisa LaTorre in the sale of unit 2204 for $8.4 million to a trust managed by local attorney Maura Ziska, records show. James LaTorre cofounded the investment firm Northern Cross. The LaTorres bought the 3,100-square-foot condo for $5.1 million, according to property records. The unit has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and one half-bathroom, the listing shows.

La Clara’s amenities include a pool, fitness center, lounge and wine tasting room, according to its website.

La Clara is not the only luxury condominium on the market, but it is the only one that was just completed, following the completion of the Bristol in 2019. Hundreds of units are in the development pipeline in West Palm Beach, including billionaire Steve Ross’ South Flagler House, Savanna’s Olara, and Sympatico and Terra’s Cipriani-branded condo-hotel project.

“In Palm Beach, on the island, there’s no new condos,” Sollack said. In West Palm Beach, “The next new building’s four years out.”