Billionaires are trading properties from Miami to Manalapan as the year comes to a close.
While many agents tell me the market’s a bit quiet, it feels like I’m hearing about a new major deal every day.
In Manalapan, Dr. Herbert Wertheim (the world’s wealthiest optometrist) paid $65 million, furniture included, for a nearly 28,000-square-foot mansion at 1160 South Ocean Boulevard. It’s not the biggest we’ve reported on, but it does mark the priciest above $60 million in Manalapan since billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison paid $173 million for an oceanfront estate in 2022. (This deal made it in the nick of time inside our top 10 resi sales of 2025 story.)
Sort of close by — about a 30-minute drive — William Wrigley Jr. (of the chewing gum fortune) sold his 2.5-acre estate at 11465 and 11472 Old Harbour Road in North Palm Beach. The buyer, fintech billionaire Ronald Clarke, paid $97.5 million for the property. It’s a record for North Palm Beach.
Down in Miami, billionaire MasTec chairman Jorge Mas sold a 7.3-acre waterfront property in Coconut Grove earlier this month for more than $100 million. More recently, Mas, who is a part owner of Inter Miami, sold his nearby waterfront Coral Gables home for $32 million. The buyers in both deals are a mystery, but I did hear from sources that the buyer of the $100 million-plus deal plans to build a 50,000-square-foot mansion.
Pending contracts also suggest there’s more brewing. In Palm Beach, coffee magnate Bob Stiller inked a deal to sell his lakefront mansion, asking $84 million. And back in Coconut Grove, a 4.5-acre waterfront estate also secured a buyer. The seller is the estate of the late prominent Miami restaurateur Jonathan Lewis (of Cafe Tu Tu Tango days). I heard the buyer is another billionaire — more to come on that this week.
The question is, will this momentum carry into the new year? I think so.
What we’re thinking about: Billionaire developer Steve Ross scored a record $772 million in construction financing for two office projects in West Palm. Is this a positive indicator of the office market’s strength, or a one-off deal that speaks more to Ross’ plans and reputation?
Send me a note at kk@therealdeal.com.
CLOSING TIME
Residential: William Wrigley Jr. sold the 2.5-acre waterfront estate at 11465 and 11472 Old Harbour Road in North Palm Beach for $97.5 million. The buyer was fintech billionaire Ronald Clarke.
Commercial: In Boca Raton, the Publix-anchored Polo Club Shops at 5050 Champion Boulevard traded for $83 million, or about $600 per square foot. The seller of the site was Atlanta-based Jamestown. The new owner is Publix.
— Research by Mary Diduch
NEW TO THE MARKET
Businesswoman Ann DesRuisseaux listed her landmarked Palm Beach mansion, fresh off an extensive renovation, for $175 million. The 923 Venetian-style estate at 800 South County Road previously sold for just $24 million in 2020. The 1.5-acre property, fronting the Intracoastal Waterway, has 200 feet of waterfront and sits just north of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club. It’s on the market with Margit Brandt of Premier Estate Properties.
Elsewhere in Florida
- More than 40 “critically missing children” from 14 North Florida counties were recovered during a two-week, multiagency operation led by the U.S. Marshals Service, according to USA Today.
- A former Brightline conductor filed a lawsuit against the rail company and its parent, Fortress Investment Group, for $60 million, alleging repeated exposure to fatal crashes left him with severe psychological injuries, the Miami Herald reports. Darren J. Brown Jr.’s federal lawsuit alleges that Brightline fostered a culture that normalized deaths, discouraged mental-health support and failed to make timely safety upgrades.
- Lawmakers are considering two bills that would give developments of over 10,000 acres the ability to be approved administratively, bypassing the public hearing process, if developers set aside 60 percent of the land for conservation. But the bills don’t require the conserved land to be in one place or remain in its natural state, according to WLRN and Florida Politics.