Barnes & Noble founder in contract to sell oceanfront Palm Beach estate listed for $96M

Leonard Riggio, the founder and former executive chairman of Barnes & Noble, has found a buyer for his oceanfront Palm Beach estate. 

Amid the height of the island’s slow season, Riggio’s listing for the mansion at 1446 North Ocean Boulevard now shows as pending, according to Realtor.com. Top Palm Beach broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates listed the 1.7-acre compound for $96 million last month. 

Leonard Riggio founded his bookstore empire in 1965 and acquired Barnes & Noble in 1971, when his business assumed the name. He expanded it to become one of the nation’s largest booksellers, with hundreds of retail stores across the country. He retired from his longtime post as executive chairman in 2016, according to published reports. 

Most of Palm Beach’s monied seasonal residents decamp to cooler climates for the summer, but agents say interested buyers have been flying in for a day or two for showings. The ones shopping off-season are usually pretty serious about purchasing, agents say.

Oceanfront estates are a hot commodity in Palm Beach, but rarely trade hands. So far this year, the only such deals have been Daren Metropoulos’ $148 million purchase of a historic estate in June, and Ideavillage founder Anand Khubani’s April sale of a 1-acre lot for $85 million. 

Last year, car dealer Michael Cantanucci bought a 1.6-acre oceanfront estate for a record $170 million, and William Lauder bought the late Rush Limbaugh’s 2.7-acre compound for $155 million. 

Such estates fall into a category of real estate known as trophy properties; valued at or above $50 million, these homes are a favorite commodity among the billionaire class. Their value and demand is largely unrelated to the surrounding housing market, experts say. Demand has exploded for these homes in the past decade, sending prices soaring in Palm Beach, Malibu, the Hamptons and Aspen. 

Riggio’s estate is a telling example of this price growth. He and his wife, Louise Riggio, bought the 8,000-square-foot mansion in 2003 for $14 million, records show. They bought an additional, adjacent quarter-acre lot for $1.4 million in 2009. The main house was built in 1979 and has five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, one half-bathroom and a pool, according to property records. The Riggios renovated the mansion when they bought it, records show.

The Riggios still have a home in Palm Beach County. Louise Riggio bought a home in the equestrian village of Wellington for $8.1 million in June. Their primary residence is in New York City at the fabled Upper East Side co-op 720 Park Avenue, and they also have a 13-acre estate in the Hamptons, where they display their sculpture collection, according to the Wall Street Journal.