On the market: 'You feel you're on a ship,' says seller of lakeside condo in Palm Beach.

When trial lawyer Helen Chaitman decided to buy a condominium in Palm Beach in 2019, she did it in record time: about three hours.

“My close friend Renny Reynolds founded Hortulus Farm just across the Delaware River from my farm in Frenchtown, New Jersey. He was the landscape architect who designed my gardens there, and when I’d come to Florida during the season, I’d stay with him at his home here.

“In 2019, on my last day — it was 10 in the morning, and I was boarding my plane at 2 — I told him I wanted to buy something here,” Chaitman recalls.

Reynolds jumped into action, calling his friend, real estate agent Burt Minkoff.

“Burt put together six properties — and the sixth, I fell in love with,” she says.

That would be a lakeside condominium at the Cove, No. 501-S at 2784 S. Ocean Blvd. on the South End, about a quarter-mile north of the bridge to Lake Worth Beach.

“The Cove was built in the 1970s, and nothing had been done to the apartment. It was not in good condition. I had to gut it,” she says.

But Chaitman had been an interior designer before becoming a lawyer, so she saw possibilities. She asked Reynolds to work with her on the renovation and hired Steve DeSantis as contractor — and the three set to work.

“We changed a lot, because we were starting (from) scratch, and Renny had some terrific ideas,” she says about Reynolds, a prominent landscape architect, gardening expert and event planner who founded Renny & Reed in New York City.

All the major rooms feature window walls with impact-resistant glass sliding doors to access the balcony, offering views of the Intracoastal Waterway. The vistas also include the bridge to Lake Worth Beach and the neighboring town’s golf course directly across the waterway.

At one end of the living area, a mirrored wall reflects the water view.

“It gives you the sense that you are surrounded by water,” Chaitman says. “What made me fall in love with this place: when you look west, you feel you are on a ship. You see the stucco wall and the railing, the greenery of the golf course and the Intracoastal.”

She was thrilled with the results of the renovation. But taking her inspiration from Reynolds, Chaitman is in the market for a single-family home with a garden.

She has listed her apartment with the agent who found it for her: Douglas Elliman Real Estate’s Minkoff, who has it priced at $2.75 million, with the furniture available separately.

With two bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms and 2,915 square feet of living space, inside and out, the fifth-floor condo is on the southwest corner of the building and features a wraparound balcony.

One enters a reception room that connects to a gallery. That hall leads into the living room and dining room, with the kitchen adjacent to the north.

A den is off the living and dining area, and the two-bedroom suites occupy the south portion of the floor plan.

Reynolds’ input into the renovation was visionary, she says. “He opened up the view in such a way that it’s spectacular.

“There was a wall separating the main bedroom from the living room. When standing in the living room, after we opened that up, you can see through the windows of the bedroom as well.”

They also carved out space for an additional room.

“The apartment as it was built had an enormous dressing room that I didn’t need,” Chaitman says. “I told Renny that for me, it was a waste of space, so we made it into a third bedroom/den, which makes the apartment so much more convenient. And it looks great.”

There’s another clever use of space. Reynolds figured out a way to hang panels on either side of this new space’s entry that covers shelving for storage.

And they didn’t stop there.

“We gutted the kitchen as well,” she says. It is fitted with custom cabinetry and high-end stainless-steel appliances. The team chose marble for the counters and backsplash.

Reynolds also designed the main bathroom. “The cabinets are the same as in the kitchen: shiny and sleek,” the homeowner says.

For the shower, Chaitman wanted a “wet room” finished in tile. "I didn’t want a shower door,” she says, “so we set the shower deep into the bathroom, so we didn’t need a door.”

The shower area also houses the soaking tub. The countertops are marble, and there are also two storage areas.

Finishes throughout the apartment were key to the final look.

The walls of the reception room, for example, are covered in a paper that resembles horizontal paneling, and along one side is built-in cabinetry.

The main bedroom, which has two custom-fitted wall closets, is enhanced by an accent wall covered in a Schumacher mural of birds, while the hallway is papered in a Chinese mural in gold and gray.

The apartment had hardwood floors throughout when Chaitman bought the apartment, and crews refinished them. In the living areas, the floor features a parquet pattern that complements the color of the mural nearby.

“The big thing was the color,” she says. “We wanted the floor to pick up the tones of the mural in the hallway — and it does that perfectly.”

All mechanical systems are new, and the apartment has its own laundry room. The apartment will be sold with a private pool cabana and assigned parking for two cars.

Bult in 1975, the Cove comprises three five-story buildings with 80 units in all. The development has deeded beach access across South Ocean Boulevard.

The Cove’s amenities include a club room, a gym, and a pool designed and landscaped by Nievera Williams Design, set within a patio incorporating pocket gardens.

Each building has its own door staff. Owners also can rent a guest suite.

The development is undergoing systematic maintenance and improvement projects overseen by the condominium association’s board.

“They’ve done an exquisite job,” Chaitman adds. The landscaping in front of the buildings, she explains, was recently redone and parking areas were redone with pavers. The lobbies of all three buildings are expected to be redecorated this year.

While ready to start gardening, Chaitman says she will miss “everything” about her apartment.

“If it had a garden, I’d be in heaven,” she says. “The building is lovely. The staff and services are terrific.”

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To see more photos of condominium No. 501-S at 2784 S. Ocean Blvd. in Palm Beach, click on the photo gallery at the top of this page.

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For more than 20 years, Christine Davis has written about Palm Beach real estate in the "On the Market" feature in the Palm Beach Daily News.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach real estate: Updated South End condo showcases water views