The Dirt: Guy Fieri says goodbye to Lake Worth Beach waterfront home but could make a tidy profit

Welcome to The Dirt! I’m real estate reporter Kimberly Miller with the latest developments in the sizzling market.

Lake Worth Beach is bidding a sad farewell to reality television star and celebrity chef Guy Fieri who put his waterfront home on the market for more than double what he paid in 2021. There were high hopes when the news was first broken (by The Palm Beach Post, BTW) that L-Dub would get a reputation bump from Fieri's residency. Maybe he would open a restaurant! Maybe it would be in the renovated Gulfstream Hotel!

Or, maybe Fieri would find another house on Singer Island, which is what happened. Sigh.

In more celebrity news, Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli headlined a charity event a Mar-a-Lago, which, in itself is news. But there's also much intrigue surrounding the shindig at former President Donald Trump's humble waterfront abode.

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Also, there's a new luxury condominium going up in downtown Boca Raton. The 10-story building with units priced between $2.5 million and $6.9 million is called Glass House because of its modern sleek design. But isn't there a proverb about .... hmmm .... help me out here, something about stone throwing and glass houses? Maybe the condo docs have a ban on lobbing criticisms at others. 🤔

And from former "Million Dollar Listing New York" star Ryan Serhant's team in Delray Beach is the new Siréne Villas, which is being handled by the Matt and Nick team in Delray and Serhant New Development in New York. The villas, priced around $5 million, have two spacious models with between 3,700 and 4,500 square feet. The project is from Stamm Development, and it's just a block from the beach.

Mar-a-Lago charity event dripping with political ties, but don't call it political

After senior business reporter Alexandra Clough started asking questions about a charity gala at Mar-a-Lago that seemed heavy on former President Donald Trump supporters and appointees, the website for the "once in a lifetime invitation-only event" started to change, frequently. Names of attendees came down and qualifiers of its non-partisanship came out.

The story detailing the scrutiny of the event sums it up well by noting that the historic estate, now a club and home to a former president, remains "inextricably viewed through the lens of politics."

Historic house moved twice finds permanent home in West Palm Beach

Florida may not be steeped in the same kind of history and culture as, say, New York or Philadelphia. It's hard to compete with the Statue of Liberty and the statue of Rocky Balboa, but we do have history darn it! The dedicated preservationists at the City of West Palm Beach have been moving century-old houses around like chess pieces trying to find permanent locations as development downtown pushes them out.

The historic Riddle House — not the haunted one — has found a final resting place and it can be yours for $2.52 million.

Phew, "prominent chimney breast" finally approved by powerful ARCOM

Jim and Sara McCann have been wrestling with the Town of Palm Beach's all-knowing, all-seeing Architectural Commission over the design of a house they want to build at 217 Bahama Lane on the north end. They went back three times over five months with tweaked designs after their drawings were repeatedly shown the door. One board member said a previous design looked like a bunch of "boxes with little hats on them!" That's fun if you're the architect.

But the couple won a narrow victory recently in a 4-3 vote that includes approval of a projecting front porch and prominent chimney breast. What is a prominent chimney breast, you ask? I have no idea, but I'll know it when I see it.

Out with the squash, tomatoes and peppers, in with 322 townhomes west of Boca Raton

The last undeveloped piece of land on Lyons Road between Yamato and Glades Road will grow townhomes instead of crops after an approval by Palm Beach County Commissioners. County Mayor Maria Sachs tried to pump the brakes on the project, saying traffic will become even more unbearable than it already is. She was overruled.

The land was once the productive Johns Farm, which dated to the 1940s but was sold in 2021. That's progress for ya.

Live lightly.

Kimberly Miller is a veteran journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate and how growth affects South Florida's environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism, subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Guy Fieri puts Lake Worth Beach home on the market for $8.5 million