Palm Beach Real Estate News & Events

By Darrell Hofheinz /Daily News Home & Loggia Editor

A photo of the Palm Beach Biltmore shows the north tower at the right, with its sloped roof that defines the ceiling in the living room of Unit 1101 on the 11th floor. The apartment has sold for a recorded $2.5 million to Stephen R. Lewinstein, part owner of the Boston Celtics. Photos by Robert Stevens, courtesy of Fite Shavell & Associates

Boston Celtics fans in the Palm Beach Biltmore might want to make friends with one of their new neighbors on the 11th floor. As a founding investor read: “part owner” of the team, Stephen R. Lewinstein can probably get his friends choice tickets to watch the Celtics play basketball anytime he wants.

Lewinstein just paid a recorded $2.5 million for one of the Biltmore’s prime condominiums — No. 1101, the two-story north tower suite, which offers three bedrooms and a private terrace with dramatic views stretching from the ocean to the lake.

The apartment in the 1926 hotel-turned-condominium had been listed at just under $3.5 million by agent Thor M. Brown of Fite Shavell & 
Associates.

Listing Agent Thor M. Brown with Fite Shavell & Associates

Lewinstein, who also owns a residence in Newport, R.I., is married, but the warranty deed recorded last week by the Palm Beach County clerk records him as the sole owner. Property records show that he and his wife, Diana, do not own any other property in Palm Beach under their names.

In addition to serving on the Celtics’ board of directors, Lewinstein owns Stephen R. Lewinstein Associates, a New England real estate development-and-management firm.

He was represented in the Biltmore deal by a firm named Level 9 Realty, according to Brown.

Selling the apartment, meanwhile, were John P. and Shirley K. Urbon, who bought it in July 2005 for about $1.8 million, property records show.

During the two years after they bought it, the Urbons signed four mortgages with lenders totaling about $5.3 million, although it’s unclear from property records how much of that amount they have repaid. None of the mortgages was recorded in court records as having been “satisfied.”

Brown would not confirm, however, whether the deal was a so-called short sale, in which a mortgage lender agrees to accept an amount less than what it is owed.

The Urbons did not want to comment on the sale, and a message left at a phone number associated with Level 9 Realty in Palm Beach County went unreturned.

SPECIAL TO FLORIDA WEEKLY

Photos by Robert Stevens

It offers magnificently proportioned rooms with refined finishes and custom millwork. Included are a gourmet kitchen, elegant dining room and temperature controlled wine storage. The master wing offers two luxurious baths, a classically designed library and an exercise room.

The exceptional landscaping was designed by Nievara and Williams. There are breathtaking views, including marvelous sunsets, from almost every room. The home has an elevator and a generator.

Also offered is a voluntary HOA for roving dusk-to-dawn security.

Fite Shavell & Associates lists the home for $11,900,000. Listing agent is Paula Wittmann, pwittmann@fiteshavell, 561-655-6570.

By Darrell Hofheinz /Daily News Home & Loggia Editor

Agent Jack Elkins’ new team at Fite Shavell & Associates has just begun marketing this six-bedroom oceanfront home at 1370 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan with a price of $18.5 million. The house has changed hands three times since 2004, and Elkins and his mother, Bunny Hiatt, were involved in each of those deals. Photo by Brian Lee, Courtesy of Fite Shavell and Associates.

Two well-known, high-producing real estate agents are getting new business cards printed with the name Fite Shavell & Associates.

Jack Elkins

Jack Elkins and his mother, Bunny Hiatt, joined the Palm Beach agency’s sales team late last week after leaving Engel & Voelkers. For years, the pair has been known for their real estate expertise in Manalapan and other Palm Beach County coastal communities, especially to the south of Palm Beach.

Eight years ago, Elkins formally partnered with his mom after learning the business as her assistant. With his mother’s blessing, Elkins says, he has worked steadily to increase his presence in the market.

Since 2009, Elkins and Hiatt were affiliated with the local franchise of the international Engel & Voelkers. Before that, they had transitioned to the Corcoran Group after it acquired the old Allmon, Tieran and Ely agency.

Along with Elkins and Hiatt, Sabra Kirkpatrick left Engel & Voelkers for Fite Shavell, where she will work alongside her former colleagues as part of what the agency is calling “the Jack Elkins team,” according to principal David Fite.

Germany-based Engel & Voelkers ranked Elkins — through his corporate partnership with Hiatt — as No. 4 in transaction volume among its agents worldwide in 2011. In 2010, Elkins also had

Bunny Hiatt

 been ranked near the top of the same category.

Among their recent deals, Elkins and Hiatt represented boxing promoter Don King in the $15.95 million sale of his Manalapan estate at 920 S. Ocean Blvd., recorded last June; Christian Angle Real Estate represented the limited liability company that bought the property.

Elkins also had listed 111 El Brillo Way, owned through a trust by Kenn Karakul, that sold for a recorded $6.6 million in February 2011 to Ryan Brant, who was represented by Fite Shavell.

And in December 2010, mother and son represented the trust that paid a recorded $16.8 million for the historic oceanfront house at 801 S. County Road, which had been the home of the late Leslie Schlesinger and her husband, Richard Schlesinger. Corcoran Group had listed the house for sale.

Elkins and Hiatt also can count among their career accomplishments having three times sold the former Lois Pope mansion at 1370 S. Ocean in Manalapan after developer Frank McKinney overhauled and successfully

Sabra Kirkpatrick

 marketed it as a lavish “spec” house in 2000. The house subsequently sold twice in 2004 — once back to McKinney — with Hiatt and Elkins as the listing agents in both of those deals. The last sale of the house occurred in 2010, with Hiatt and Elkins representing the seller opposite Sotheby’s International Realty. It changed hands for a recorded $12 million after having sold for $22 million the year before.

The kicker of the story? Elkins and his team have just begun marketing the house again, with a price of $18.5 million. The owner is listed in property records as MGM Designs LLC of Illinois.

Darrell Hofheinz writes about real estate and edits Home & Loggia. He welcomes news items about Palm Beach real estate for this column. E-mail dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com or call 820-3831.

 By Darrell Hofheinz /Daily News Home & Loggia Editor

'Penta’ magazine this month noted in an article on second homes that tight space on Palm Beach 'tends to support real estate prices.’ Photo by Robert Stevens

It’s official, at least as far as the folks at Barron’s Penta magazine are concerned: Palm Beach is among the country’s best spots to buy a vacation home.

But then, you already knew that, didn’t you?

The weekly supplement published by the financial powerhouse this month placed Palm Beach in the No. 15 spot on its Top 20 list, bracketed by the mountain spa town of Highlands, N.C. (No. 14) and ski mecca Sun Valley, Idaho (No. 16).

Topping the list was an area many Palm Beachers know well: Hamptons, N.Y.

“New money calls these Long Island beach towns the Hamptons, while old money calls them the East End,” the article noted. “We would call them a relative bargain if you are in the market for a $1 million to $2 million home, without water view, found north of Montauk Highway.”

The Hamptons/Palm Beach connection was noted obliquely in the write-up’s mention of “conservative mogul David Koch” as being among the notable who stash their duds in Southampton. Koch, of course, also owns a mansion here on South Ocean Boulevard.

Written by Steven Sears, Mark Veverka and Sandra Ward, the article noted second homes are beginning to sell again across the nation but not necessarily if they need major renovations: “The theme these days is location, quality/condition, location,” the article said, and that dictum has certainly applied this season in Palm Beach, particularly among more expensive properties.

Penta, by the way, is a weekly Barron’s supplement targeted at readers with at least $5 million in assets. And what was its take on Palm Beach?

“Residents joke that you never realize how young you are, or how poor, until you visit Palm Beach,” the write-up said. “The tight space of Palm Beach, a heavily developed barrier island, tends to support real estate prices. But folk near retirement eventually trade down.”

As an example of the latter scenario, the article noted that Jimmy Buffett bought a $4.95 million house here last year after having divested himself of his family’s $18.2 million oceanfront estate in 2010.

The writers gave a shout-out to Palm Beach real estate attorney Les Evans and the sales reports he regularly posts at LREvans.com. And to illustrate the article, the editors chose a photo of Jim and Susan Keenan’s home at 233 Tradewind Drive on the North End, priced at $3.795 million and only recently listed as a pending sale by Brown Harris Stevens.

Rounding out the top five rankings on the list were, in descending order, Kauai, Hawaii; Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.; Kiawah Island, S.C.; and Vail, Colo.

■

Fite Shavell & Associates had listed this oceanfront home at 1 Ocean Lane in Manalapan, which recently sold for a recorded $3.7 million to Keiser University founder Arthur Keiser and his wife, Belinda. Photo by Robert Stevens, courtesy of Fite Shavell & Associates.

Action to the south —

After a strong showing last year in sales of single-family homes, Manalapan has seen its first sale of 2012, according to the regional multiple listing service.

Arthur Keiser, founder of Keiser University, and his wife, Belinda, bought a five-bedroom oceanfront home that was built in 1985 at 1 Ocean Lane for $3.7 million, the price on the Feb. 28 warranty deed recorded last week by the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office.

Listing agent Bill Quigley of Fite Shavell & Associates — who stayed busy in 2011 handling multiple sales on Point Manalapan in the tony town — represented the seller, a limited liability company recorded on the deed as Manalapan LLC. Steven Bearden signed the deed as the company’s manager, with an address in care of an accounting firm in Howell, Mich.

Agent Jolie Abreu of Illustrated Properties in Palm Beach Gardens acted on behalf of the Keisers, who are new to Manalapan.

Quigley had priced the Mediterranean-style house at $5.2 million and its sales listing described the home’s expansive balconies, generously sized rooms and plentiful windows. It also mentioned the perk that comes with every home in Manalapan: a gratis membership to the La Coquille Club that allows residents the use of the nearby Ritz-Carlton’s facilities and club room.

Quigley, by the way, handled both sides of last year’s biggest deal for property on Hypoluxo Island: In July, 1200 S.E. Atlantic Drvie changed hands for a recorded $4.75 million.

By Darrell Hofheinz/Daily News Real Estate Writer

The home for more than 30 years of the late Dame Celia Lipton Farris, 319 El Vedado Road sold this week for $5.2 million to Palm Beacher Virginia Mortara, according to the trustee’s deed. Photo Courtesy of Corcoran Group

The estate of the late singer, actress and charitable stalwart Dame Celia Lipton Farris has sold her vintage house, once owned by Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, at 319 El Vedado Road in Palm Beach for a recorded $5.2 million, a sum $300,000 below the asking price.

Palm Beacher Virginia “Gina” Mortara bought the six-bedroom, Georgian-style house with staff quarters from a trust administered by Wells Fargo Bank as successor trustee, according to the trustee’s deed dated Feb. 15 and recorded Thursday by the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office.

Agent Chris Deitz of Fite Shavell & Associates represented Mortara, a philanthropist who serves as president of a foundation named after her and her late husband, Michael P. Mortara.

“She is going to restore the house to its original splendor,” said Deitz, who would not confirm his client’s identity, citing a request for privacy. “It will be a beautiful project when it’s done.”

Agents Paulette Koch and Dana Koch of the Corcoran Group had listed the house for $5.5 million in mid-December. That price was based largely on the value of the land, Paulette Koch said, because of the poor structural condition of the house, which is in need of a major renovation.

“We had entertained two other offers, and the buyer stepped up to a level the owner was willing to accept,” she added.

With 12,406 square feet of living space, inside and out, the house stands on a prime Estate Section street three blocks south of the Everglades Golf Course.

Although the lot measures 20,000 square feet, it has only a partial water view because of its corner position on a basin just east of Tarpon Island in the Lake Worth Lagoon.

Several owners

Built in 1940 by developer Clarence Mack, the house’s subsequent owners included Balsan, the former Duchess of Marlboro. She acquired it for use as a winter residence and lived there after selling her famous Hypoluxo Island mansion, Casa Alva, in Manalapan following the 1956 death of husband Jacques Balsan. Known as a skilled hostess, she redecorated the El Vedado house and another home in Southampton, N.Y., before she died in 1964 at age 87.

Farris, who died last March, moved into the house more than three decades ago with her late husband, Victor Farris. She entertained there frequently, especially in the years following the Farrises’ purchase of the house in 1978 from Alice Warfield Tyne, according to property records.

Scotland native Celia Farris was well known for her support of charitable and medical causes, including the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the American Cancer Society. She received the title of dame from Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of her patriotism and charitable achievement.

During its history, the house had other owners that included the late Audrey Emery, whose son, the late Paul Ilyinsky, served as a longtime mayor of Palm Beach; and the late portrait artist Channing Hare, who had bought it in the late 1940s from the family of the late John Wendell Anderson, a founding member of the Ford Motor Co.’s board.

House not landmarked

Corcoran’s sales information described the home as “structurally unsound” and promoted the property to potential buyers as a “perfect [place] to build your dream home.”

The house hasn’t been designated a landmark by the town and is not protected against demolition or renovations to its exterior. Those who considered buying the house “looked at it from a restoration point of view as well as from a ‘ground-up’ point of view,” said Paulette Koch.

Mortara’s husband, who died in 2000, was a senior partner at Goldman Sachs. The family’s philanthropic efforts have included underwriting teaching positions, scholarships, a lecture series and capital improvements at Georgetown University. Virginia Mortara “personally oversaw the creation and construction of the Mortara Center of International Studies,” according to the university’s website.

Other family charitable works include major contributions to the Taft School in Watertown, Conn., and Martha’s Vineyard Hospital in Massachusetts.

Mortara, who could not be reached for further comment for this story, owns another Palm Beach residence on Australian Avenue, which she bought in 2005, according to property records.

The renovation of the El Vedado house will be handled by contractor Gary Greenberg of Palm Beach Construction and Management in West Palm Beach, Deitz said, who added that he had no further comment about the sale.

Augustus Mayhew contributed historical information for this story.