'Million Dollar Listing' TV star co-list West Palm Beach home priced at $39.5 million

On the placid shores of the Lake Worth Lagoon in West Palm Beach, two single-family homes hit the market in December with startling $39 million-plus price tags. The lofty amounts were unimaginable pre-pandemic in a town that grew up as an also ran to well-heeled Palm Beach, but things have changed.

It was less than three years ago near the height of the COVID-19 real estate crush that the sale of a record-breaking $16.2 million single-family home in West Palm Beach was front-page news. That price was shattered by a $21 million deal closed in February 2023.

Now, the near $40 million waterfront homes with modern sleek lines, rooftop decks and views of Palm Beach are testament, Realtors said, to the confidence that builders, developers and investors have in a city growing into its nickname, Wall Street South.

“West Palm has become the new epicenter for large multibillion-dollar financial institutions that have migrated to South Florida within the last three years,” said former Million Dollar Listing New York reality television star Ryan Serhant, who is co-listing 3030 Washington Drive, which has an asking price of $39.5 million. “Not to mention some of the hottest restaurants from NYC are opening locations throughout the city, and Class A office space is now harder to find than a parking space on Clematis Street.”

Recent reports corroborate that big money has moved into the Sunshine State.

More "Wall Street South:" Related Cos. plans largest office complex in West Palm Beach

Palm Beach County saw highest net gain in adjusted gross income in nation

An October analysis of IRS income migration data from 2020 and 2021 by the Economic Innovation Group found Florida experienced the highest adjusted gross income net gain of any state at $39.2 billion. About $9.8 billion of that came from New York transplants, according to the Washington, D.C.-based public policy organization.

Palm Beach County saw a net gain in adjusted gross income of $7 billion — the highest of any county nationwide. About $1.1 billion came from former New York City residents.

Miami-Dade County saw the second-highest net gain at $6.4 billion.

The report also noted that 27.7 cents of every dollar leaving Manhattan came to Florida, which was a total of about $4.6 billion.

“People are exiting Manhattan and coming to West Palm Beach, not Palm Beach, not Miami Beach, West Palm Beach,” said Steve Simpson, a Realtor with William Raveis who is listing 2914 North Flagler Drive, priced at $39 million. “They can come down here and buy a property that’s less expensive than up north and the savings on their income tax alone pays for a majority of their property taxes.”

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Serhant, who opened a Delray Beach office of his firm in May, is working with Aquantis Realty agent Stephanie Mordes to market 3030 Washington Road. The home is in the historic Prospect/Southland Park District in West Palm Beach.

At $39.5 million, the seven-bedroom, 10-bathroom home, includes opulent details such as a two-story single-slab granite fireplace, a glass elevator, two summer kitchens, a 450-bottle wine cellar, a three-car garage and a private dock.

It was debuted during a Great Gatsby-themed gala that had stilt walkers, acrobats and a greeter wearing a gown with servable glasses of champagne.

The 1.1-acre lot once held a gutted historic home that had been demolished by the September 2015 purchase of the land by a limited liability company for $2 million. It is just north of the city’s waterfront George Petty Park and a few houses down from 3140 Washington Road, which sold for $21 million in early 2023.

Mordes said the new home, which was designed by prominent West Palm Beach architect David Lawrence, was the most expensive single-family home on the market in West Palm Beach in mid-December and would set the record — by far — for the highest sale price in the city if the seller gets close to the asking price.

The $39 million home at 2914 North Flagler is still under construction but expected to be completed by March, Simpson said. It has seven bedrooms, eight bathrooms and nearly 9,000 square feet. It also was designed by David Lawrence. Simpson is banking on his listing getting attention from luxe buyers because it is closer to the Palm Beach/Lake Worth inlet with no fixed bridges between it and the Atlantic Ocean.

A search of West Palm Beach single-family home sales on the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser website shows the $21 million purchase in early 2023 tops the next highest price of $16 million. Two homes on North Flagler Drive, Nos. 3240 and 4906, sold for $16 million in 2022.

The home at 3200 Washington Road in West Palm Beach sold for $15.9 million in 2021. Another Flagler Drive home at 6717 sold for $15.07 million in 2022.

The home at 6717 South Flagler Drive is recorded in official records as selling at $15 million, but people familiar with the deal say add-ons made it a $16.2 million record-breaker in July 2021.

“There is nowhere else to get a new, modern, direct Intracoastal home for this price,” Mordes said about the $39.5 million home. “You can’t get this in Palm Beach. You would get a dry lot or a much smaller house.”

Designers who cater to the ultra-wealthy are following the migration to Florida.

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Business owners seeing firsthand the high-end changes in West Palm Beach

Jennifer Mabley, who owns Mabley and Handler Home & Design with Austin Handler, expanded the firm's New York and Hamptons-based business into a new store on South Dixie Highway along Antique Row in October. She said the movement of people relocating to South Florida feels similar to what she saw happening following the Sept. 11 attacks when New Yorkers sought refuge in the Hamptons.

“We were four blocks from Ground Zero and I said we could try and reinvent ourselves in the city, but we could also go to the Hamptons,” said Mabley, who bought a home in West Palm Beach in November near the new store. “Now what we are seeing in South Florida is a metamorphosis. It feels like this incredible community blossoming right before our eyes.”

Mabley and Handler will be featured at the inaugural Palm Beach Design Days on Jan. 25 and 26 in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach. The event also features celebrated interior designer Meg Braff, who renovated an old print shop on Georgia Avenue in 2022 to showcase her signature wallpaper and fabrics, and Casa Branca Atelier, which is expanding from Palm Beach to open a showroom on Florida Avenue in West Palm.

Sara McCann, who started Hive Home Gift & Garden store a decade ago in West Palm Beach, has seen firsthand the high-end changes in the city. She now has multiple stores, a bakery and café, and a new showroom with a modern aesthetic called Pure by Hive south of Southern Boulevard, near the popular SoSo community.

“South of Southern was hit-or-miss for years, but now it feels like more people are moving into the area and Dixie Highway is seeing a real resurgence,” McCann said.

McCann said her clients have included transplants from Chicago, New Jersey, New York, Boston and a contingent of employees with Related Cos. of New York, the city's dominant real estate developer and investor.

Will West Palm Beach's growth continue or will it slow down?

Related Cos., which is not affiliated with the Miami-based Related Group, built the 360 Rosemary tower to offer Class A office space to financial firms leaving the Northeast during the pandemic. It is also building the 25-story luxury office tower One Flagler and has plans for two more office towers at The Square, formerly CityPlace.

Of course, fortunes can reverse, as noted by Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene in a November Palm Beach Post story when he said the county’s growth was artificially inflated by the pandemic transplants. He predicted a “rough couple of years” in real estate as the market settles.

Others don’t see a downturn ahead.

Florida's lack of state income tax, real estate that is still cheaper than other parts of the country and the warm weather will keep people coming to South Florida, said Dennis Grady, who served 35 years as president and chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce of the Palm Beaches before retiring in 2021.

Whether they’ll buy a $39 million house is another question.

Serhant believes the buyer of 3030 Washington Road will likely be a financial executive who is relocating to Palm Beach County and wants a newly built home on the water but without the "$80 to $100 million" Palm Beach price tag.

“They only need one buyer with unlimited money to step up and make an offer,” said Compass Realtor Don Moore about the two new listings. “It’s uncharted territory for West Palm Beach.”

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: West Palm Beach real estate: Ryan Serhant co-list home for $39 million