Marc Elkman’s Empire Development launches sales for 9 Boca Raton spec homes

Marc Elkman’s Empire Development is launching sales for nine spec homes in Boca Raton, a market where new construction is in high demand and breaking price records. The estimated total sellout for the projects is $85 million. 

Elkman tapped Douglas Elliman’s Senada Adžem to handle sales and marketing for the properties, according to a press release. Asking prices for the homes are ranging between $6.3 million and $12 million, and Adžem says she expects to sell them all in predevelopment.

“Boca Raton is a really unique market in general. For luxury spec development there is this insatiable demand,” she said. “You just have to be able to deliver the product.”

Elkman started a $16 million buying spree for development sites in 2022, records show. Affiliates of Empire Development have acquired the lots at 561, 541 and 651 Golden Harbour Drive, 399 Northeast 7th Street, 1099 Northeast 4th Avenue, 1051 Northeast 2nd Terrace, and 300 Northeast 11th Street, records show. They have yet to close on the sites at 1352 Cocoanut Road and 839 Orchid Drive, according to property records. 

The lots are all about 0.2 acres and the planned homes will span between 5,800 square feet and 8,000 square feet, featuring between five and six bedrooms. The homes planned for the Golden Harbour Drive and Orchid Drive sites will be waterfront and have docks, Empire’s website shows. 

Adžem anticipates young families and empty nesters from Palm Beach County and the Northeast to be most of the buyers, as well as some Miami residents.

“They’re moving north as they get to a point where they just want to ‘relax,’” she said.  

Adžem said this demographic of relocating luxury spec home buyers want a clean slate when they move in. To feed the demand, Empire is selling packages of custom millwork, furniture, dishware and glassware, with prices ranging from $750,000 to $2 million, according to Adžem.

“It depends on their needs and their budget,” she said. 

Spec development is big business in Boca Raton, where spec mansions have repeatedly set price records in the post-pandemic boom years. 

Brothers Steve and Scott Dingle have made a career of spec development in the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, Boca Raton’s priciest gated community. Earlier this month they dropped a record $36 million on a waterfront teardown estate, likely a site for their next project. Since March, three waterfront spec mansions have sold in Boca Raton for $25.9 million, $26.5 million and $28.5 million.

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