Fox News' Bret Baier asking $16.5M for Palm Beach home he bought for $12M in 2022

Fox News host Bret Baier is hoping to sign off — by closing a sale — on the Palm Beach house he bought last year from a company linked to fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger.

And the $16.495 million Baier and his wife, Amy Baier, are asking for the three-bedroom house at 244 Fairview Road is a noticeable step up from the $12 million they paid for it.

The strong market for newer homes in Palm Beach is a justification for the price hike, real estate observers say.

Hilfiger and his wife, handbag designer Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger, had used a limited liability company named Villa Deniz LLC to buy the house for a recorded $9 million in March 2021 when it was brand-new. The Hilfigers own two other homes in Palm Beach.

The Baiers’ house on Fairview Road has 4,970 square feet of living space, inside and out, with Bermuda-style architecture, records show. It stands on a lot of about a quarter-acre on a road bordering the south end of the Palm Beach Country Club in the North End of town.

Bret Baier hosts Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” and is Fox News’ chief political anchor. Before that, he was the network’s chief White House correspondent and Pentagon correspondent.

Broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate handled both sides of last year’s private sale, in which the Baiers used revocable trusts in their names to buy the house. He also holds the Baiers’ listing, which was apparently first reported by Realtor.com.

The Baiers couldn’t be reached for comment, and Angle declined to discuss the listing or his clients.

The two-story house has “perfectly scaled rooms, high ceilings, and stunning hardwood and marble flooring,” according to the sales listing. “South facing French doors allow for natural, sun-filled interiors.”

The formal living room has a fireplace, while the kitchen opens to the dining area and family room crowned with beamed ceilings.

Upstairs are the primary suite and what Angle’s listing described as a “loft/family/bonus room.” Outdoor amenities include a built-in grill and a covered loggia facing the pool.

The house was developed on speculation by John Flynn Jr. of Palm Beach Gardens, whose family has built, bought and sold more than a dozen homes in Palm Beach.

In the 2021 sale, the listing agents were Toni Hollis and Gloria Moré of Waterfront Properties and Club Communities.

Earlier this month, Tommy Hilfiger flipped — for $41.38 million — a historic Palm Beach house one of his companies had bought few months ago for just under $37 million at 930 S. Ocean Blvd. Broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens handled Hilfiger’s interests and acted for the buyer, a trust, in the deal on South Ocean Boulevard.

Prices for houses in premium condition have escalated dramatically in Palm Beach since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus health crisis a pandemic in March 2020.

North End house comes with renovation plans

A recent listing on Palm Beach’s North End proves once again that confidence in the higher end of the town’s real estate market continues strong among those who sell that sort of thing, thank you very much.

The listing in question is a mid-1990s house at 7 La Costa Way, which has entered the market at $39.9 million.

The same property sold 14 months ago for about $8 million less. That deal, recorded at $31. 8 million, marked the first time the house had changed hands since it was built in 1996.

And to be sure, there have been some changes at the property since it was bought in April 2022 by a trust for which the trustee was financial planner and adviser Andrew Cooper, managing partner of AJ Wealth in New York City. The identity of anyone else associated with the new ownership hasn’t surfaced.

The main change at the property is that the one-story house’s interior has been gutted in preparation for a major remodel, inside and out, approved early this year by the town’s powerful Architectural Commission.

And should a buyer choose to embrace those plans, which come with building permits, the decision could shave months off the time between buying the house and starting construction. The architectural board is notoriously picky, so approved architectural plans can substantially boost a property’s value. Cha-ching!

With the plans, “7 La Costa Way is an incredible opportunity to fast-forward a custom build on nearly an acre in the North End,” listing agent Lilly Leas Ferreira of Brown Harris Stevens told the Palm Beach Daily News.

Of course, a buyer could toss the plans and start from scratch with a new build on the lot, which measures four-fifths of an acre on the northwest corner of North Lake Trail. La Costa Way is the 11th street south of the Palm Beach Country Club.

The existing exterior architecture reflects the formal neoclassical style dubbed Palm Beach Regency. The original layout — centered on an open-air central courtyard with a swimming pool — featured seven bedrooms.

The revised floorplan designed by architect Daniel Kahan, a principal at Smith and Moore Architects, retains the pool courtyard but would adapt the interior to meet today’s lifestyles.

In all, the remodeled house would have nearly 12,975 total square feet of living space, inside and out, with six bedrooms, a den that could be converted into a seventh bedroom and a two-bedroom guesthouse. The exterior, meanwhile, would get an update with a soft-but-contemporary look that would retain some of the original design’s formality.

Ferreira handled the buyer's end of the sale in 2022, negotiating opposite broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates. He represented the seller, Rachel Rudin, who built the custom home with her late husband, New York City real estate investor and developer Lewis Rudin.

Ferreira isn’t commenting about her client or whether the remodeling project was originally intended for the 2022 buyer. But she did mention the house plans’ “astonishing” ceiling heights and a guesthouse.

Palm Beach’s priciest listing takes a hiatus

People who keep up with Palm Beach real estate may have noticed that the town’s most expensive residential listing — a private island priced at $218 million with a renovated-and-expanded house — quietly dropped out of the multiple listing service this month.

The listing for 10 Tarpon Island was withdrawn with the arrival of summer, confirmed Todd Michael Glaser, who completely redeveloped the property after the investment group he put together bought it for $85 million in July 2021. He declined further comment.

Properties, especially high-end ones, sometimes take a hiatus from the MLS during town’s off season, when the number of Palm Beach house shoppers typically dwindles as summer destinations beckon from up north. Evidently, the very rich have other things on their minds than local real estate during the warmer months.

The listing for Tarpon Island also dropped out of the MLS in early 2022, while the project was finishing up construction, before re-entering the market as an active listing in November.

John O. Pickett III, president of the Palm Beach Board of Realtors, isn’t affiliated with Tarpon Island. But he acknowledged that summer breaks for listings are nearly as common as summer breaks for schoolkids.

“Many times with a very large property, people think the summer is a good time to give the property a break from the market, a pause if you will,” Pickett said.

Broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate and agent Chris Leavitt of Douglas Elliman Real Estate held the co-listing.

With 360-degree views of the Intracoastal Waterway, the artificial island in the Estate Section measures about 2.3 acres. A picturesque bridge connects it to Tarpon Way, which leads to the rest of Palm Beach.

The 11-bedroom property has 28,618 total square feet of living space, inside and out, the plans show. The long list of amenities includes a five-car garage; a 98-foot swimming pool with a whirlpool spa and a "cold plunge" pool; and one of the town's only lighted tennis courts. The layout includes an indoor spa with a massage room, hair salon, steam room and sauna; a paneled library; a home gym; and an entertainment room with a fireplace, wine storage, billiards area and movie lounge.

When it comes to high-dollar homes in Palm Beach, Pickett added, properties can still find buyers, even when they're out of the MLS.

“I promise you that if you call the listing agent tomorrow and offer full price, the agent isn’t going to say, ‘Sorry, but that’s no longer on the market,’” Pickett said.

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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: Fox's Bret Baier lists Palm Beach home for millions over 2022 sale