Billionaire Clark expected to sell estate near Palm Beach for about $175 million: report
The massive estate that billionaire internet pioneer Jim Clark bought last year from the Ziff family south of Palm Beach is expected to sell this week for around $175 million, according to a report published Wednesday.
Clark told the Wall Street Journal he was selling the ocean-to-lake estate near the Boynton Beach inlet in Manalapan in a private deal brokered by Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates.
Moens and Clark could not be reached Wednesday, nor could attorney Ronald Kochman, who served as trustee of the billionaire’s trust when it paid a recorded $94.17 million for the estate at 2000 S. Ocean Blvd. in March 2021.
But sources familiar with the pending sale confirmed for the Palm Beach Daily News that the sale price is expected to hit at least $150 million.
That would make it the most expensive residential sale ever in Florida, property records show. The sale last year set a record in the wealthy town and was among the highest-dollar transactions ever to close in Florida, property records show.
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The buyer has not been identified. But Clark told the Journal he was selling it to someone who had already expressed interest in the estate before he bought it.
Estate near Palm Beach includes island
Clark’s property on the barrier island measures 15.65 acres. In the sale last year, his trust also bought a slice of an island immediately west of the estate in the Intracoastal Waterway, bringing his total acreage to 22.44 acres, according to property records.
Clark, a former Palm Beach resident, told the Journal he and his wife, Kristy, bought the estate as a “spur of the moment purchase.” Although they expected at the time to spend more time in Florida, their plans later changed, the Journal reported. The couple has homes in New York City and Bedford, New York.
With dense vegetation, the estate has about 1,200 feet of beach frontage and around 1,300 feet of waterfront on the irregularly shaped side facing the Intracoastal Waterway. The estate’s name, Gemini, is derived from the main house's configuration on both sides of South Ocean Boulevard.
Together, the multiple buildings offer nearly 85,000 square feet of living space, inside and out, with 33 bedrooms, 34 bathrooms and 13 powder rooms.
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In the sale last year, Moens acted on behalf of the Clarks. Representing the billionaire Ziff publishing family were Sotheby’s International Realty listing agents Cristina Condon, Todd F. Peter and Frances Peter. The selling entity was linked to Ziff Brothers Investments, the company that manages the family’s fortune.
Jim Clark co-founded Netscape, one of the first commercial web browsers, and more recently founded CommandScape, a South Florida-based company offering high-tech building-management systems for commercial properties and large residential estates. The Texan also was involved in the founding of WebMD and Shutterfly. Forbes estimates his net worth at $2.9 billion.
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Palm Beach sale last year set a record
The most expensive sale in Florida closed in Palm Beach in February 2021, when a just-completed and furnished beachfront mansion on 2 acres changed hands for a recorded $122.7 million at 535 N. County Road. The mansion was sold by an ownership entity linked to its developer, Mark Pulte of Boca Raton-based Mark Timothy Inc. Moens held the listing and had an ownership stake in the house.
The limited liability company that bought the property on North County Road was linked to private-equity specialist Scott Shleifer, who was represented by broker Ryan Serhant of Serhant, and agent Christopher Leavitt of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
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Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call (561) 820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Billionaire to sell estate near Palm Beach for about $175M: report
