Fundraising by design: Which home will host Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach?
You might dub it “the idea house.”
That’s the notion behind the Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach, an annual fundraiser that lets the public tour rooms and outdoor spaces created by a cadre of interior designers and landscaping firms.
The latest edition will open for about three weeks beginning Feb. 24 in a lakefront house at 3240 N. Flagler Drive in the Northwood Shores neighborhood of West Palm Beach, organizers just announced.
As usual, the event will benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County and the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club in The Bronx in New York City.
And if the sixth-annual edition is anything like past versions, rooms will overflow with decorating inspiration — striking color combinations, eye-catching furnishings, a top-of-the-line kitchen and bathrooms appointed with the latest fixtures.
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“We’re thrilled to return to Palm Beach this February to raise essential funds for the youth in New York City and Palm Beach County,” James Druckman, president of the board of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, said in a prepared statement.
Druckman added: “We’re eager for the design community to come together to celebrate another successful Palm Beach show house.”
The roster of design professionals who will take part hasn’t yet been announced. Organizers have typically chosen a mix of designers from South Florida and other parts of the country.
Lakefront home has covered loggia facing lake, Palm Beach
The upcoming edition will mark the first Kips Bay show house in a house with waterfront directly on the Intracoastal Waterway.
The outdoor spaces include an oversize balcony above a covered loggia that looks out to the lakefront pool, and Palm Beach on the other side of the water.
The two-story, four-bedroom house was built in 2007 and features a gated entry, an elevator and Mediterranean-style details, including classical columns. On a lot of about four-tenths of an acre, the home has 9,904 square feet of living space, inside and out.
In the 34-by-26-foot living room, glass doors with fanlights above them look out to the water and the deep-water dock. Other rooms include a library, a formal dining room and a family room. There’s also a separate guest suite above the garage.
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Show house organizers did not identify anyone connected with the property’s ownership.
But a limited liability company— linked in property records to industrialist and real estate investor Jim Randall — bought the house in October for a recorded $16 million. It was among the highest prices ever paid for waterfront property on North Flagler Drive, according to courthouse records. The property’s value nearly doubled in value from its previous sale for a recorded $8.16 million in June 2021.
In the October sale, real estate agent Elizabeth DeWoody of Compass Florida acted for the married couple who sold the house, attorneys Kimberly Sorrentino and Lawrence Rolnick. Agent William Sarnie of Simon Issacs Real Estate acted for the buyer.
“The broker (who represented the buyer) for the property reached out to our organization and offered the home to us,” Nazira Handal, Kips Bay’s director of special events and corporate partnerships, told the Palm Beach Daily News. “The location of the home is ideal.”
In a phone interview, Sarnie declined to discuss his client but said he expects the show house will focus attention on the North Flagler Drive waterfront.
“I think it will bring a lot of exposure to the area," Sarnie said. "I thought it was a good fit for Kips Bay and would support a good cause."
Kips Bay organizers have said they search each year for a house in proximity to Palm Beach, where many of those who visit the fundraiser reside, although the project also draws many visitors from West Palm Beach and other parts of South Florida.
Randall's limited liability company also owns the house immediately to the north of the show-house site, records show. Randall and his wife, Eleanor, who have deep ties to California, also have an estate in Manalapan south of Palm Beach.
West Palm Beach show house is a satellite of New York fundraiser
Jaene Miranda, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County, said in a prepared statement that the show house and other fundraisers “allow our clubs to continue our mission to help as many young people who need us the most to reach their full potential with a plan for their future.”
The first West Palm Beach edition of the show house opened in 2017. The event is a satellite of the Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York, which has raised more than $28 million since its debut in 1973, according to organizers.
The most recent West Palm Beach show house also took place in the Northwood area. It occupied a historic house known simply as “The Mansion“ at 3001 Spruce Ave.
The show house will be open for tours Feb. 24 to March 19, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. General admission tickets are $40, and virtual-tour tickets are $20. A by-special-ticket-only “preview day” will be held Feb. 23. For tickets and more information, visit KipsBayDecoratorShowHouse.org/palmbeach.
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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: Florida design: Which W. Palm Beach home will host Kips Bay show house?
