Spec home developer Todd Glaser, partners buy entire Tarpon Island in Palm Beach for $85M

Investor William M. Toll sold the 2.3-acre island

Todd Michael Glaser with 10 Tarpon Isle (Todd Michael Glaser)
Todd Michael Glaser with 10 Tarpon Isle (Todd Michael Glaser)

UPDATED, July 8, 1:20 p.m.: Developer Todd Michael Glaser and his partners closed on an $85 million purchase of a small island in Palm Beach.

Glaser and an investment group that includes Jim Randall, Jonathan Fryd and Scott Robins acquired the 2.3-acre Tarpon Island, according to Glaser. It’s between Everglades Island and the Palm Beach barrier island, on the Lake Worth Lagoon.

Randall, of Randall Realty Group, made the bulk of his fortune in 2014 when he sold his aerospace rivet manufacturing company, Allfast Fastening Systems, for $360 million. He is a 30 percent partner in the Tarpon Island property.

Glaser is planning to expand and renovate the five-bedroom, 12,321-square-foot estate on the island. It will be listed for sale once it’s under construction. If not sold, it will be listed again as a completed 25,000-square-foot mansion.

“This hasn’t been available to anybody,” Glaser said. “This is a house for Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be in Palm Beach on your own private island.”

Property records show the sellers of 10 Tarpon Isle are William M. Toll and his wife, Eileen.

The property was built in 1930 and includes a pool and tennis court.

Glaser plans to add a second pool, upgrade the tennis court and add a six-car garage to the estate. He and his partners will invest roughly $12 million to $15 million on the project, which is expected to be completed in about 10 months.

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Suzanne Frisbie, who recently moved her license to the Corcoran Group from Premier Estate Properties, represented Glaser in the off-market deal. Jim McCann of Premier Estate Properties represented the sellers along with Adam McPherson of Douglas Elliman.

Tarpon Island is accessible via a private bridge, boat or seaplane. The Palm Beach Daily News previously reported that the property was originally owned by Edmund Steuart Davis, who led a medical manufacturer company.

The sale marks one of the highest-priced to close in Palm Beach since the start of the year, though some estates have traded for more than $100 million. In June, German entrepreneur and philanthropist Dr. Ernst Langner sold his ocean-to-lake estate at 1840 South Ocean Boulevard for nearly $110 million.

“It’s just crazy [that] I pulled this off,” Glaser said. “We had to come up with $38 [million] or $39 million to close with a $50 million mortgage.” Fryd and Robins are financing and equity partners.

Glaser has been busy in Palm Beach and in the Miami area. He, Randall, Robins and Fryd recently paid $23.8 million for the waterfront Indian Creek home of longtime “Sábado Gigante” host Don Francisco.

In Palm Beach, he paid the same amount for a lakefront estate at 210 Via Del Mar that he said he is renovating for his family.

Glaser is also building a new spec mansion on the former Palm Beach property of the late sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.