Palm Beach couple sells house for $9.5 million after building new one nearby

Having built themselves a new house nearby, J. Michael and Kimberley R. Lawrie have sold the custom home they built eight years ago at 201 La Puerta Way on Palm Beach’s North End.

The house sold for $9.5 million in the off-market deal, according to the deed recorded Thursday.

The 201 La Puerta Way Trust was on the buyer’s side. Real estate attorney Adam R. Seligman of the Ward Damon law firm in West Palm Beach served as trustee. Seligman declined to comment, and because of rules governing trusts, no other information about the buyer was immediately available in public records.

The Lawries bought the property on La Puerta Way in 2011 for $1.4 million and completed their custom home there in 2013, according to property records.

The two-story, five-bedroom house has 6,710 square feet of living space, inside and out. Near the beach, the house stands on a lot of about a quarter acre at the corner of North Ocean Way, about midway between the Palm Beach Country Club and the inlet.

Seligman signed, on behalf of the trust that bought the house, a 30-year, $6.5 million mortgage with JPMorgan Chase bank. The mortgage document was recorded simultaneously with the deed.

J. Michael Lawrie founded and is CEO of The Lawrie Group, a Palm Beach-based company that provides executive consulting and business services while managing a private-equity fund, according to a brief online biographical sketch. His resume also includes tenure as the former chairman, president and CEO of Virginia-based DXC Technology Co.

Broker Denise Hanley of Denise A. Hanley Inc. confirmed she represented the Lawries in the sale. Agent Marley Goodman Overman of Illustrated Properties acted for the buyer. Both agents declined to comment on the transaction.

New house built nearby

The Lawries completed their new, larger home at 208 El Pueblo Way — three houses south of the one they just sold — last year, property records show. They have that house homesteaded in the latest tax rolls as their primary home.

When the Architectural Commission reviewed plans for the house on El Pueblo Way in 2019, the board learned the Lawries needed a larger residence to accommodate visits from their grandchildren, according coverage at the time by the Palm Beach Daily News.

Board approved: Panel likes changes to house designed for Lawries, gives it unanimous thumbs-up

With architecture reminiscent of homes in the British West Indies, the Lawries' new house has five bedrooms and about 10,100 square feet of living space, inside and out, according to the plans submitted to the town. There's also a two-bedroom guesthouse with about 2,400 total square feet.

Represented by Hanley, the Lawries paid a recorded $6.85 million for the El Pueblo Way property — comprising 2½ lots stretching 300 feet along the street — in March 2019. In that sale, Brown Harris Stevens agent Beverly Broberg acted on behalf of the seller, the estate of the late Stewart Colwell Broberg.

The Lawries razed a 1949 house on the property to build their new home.

Purchased in 2019: Lawries pay $6.85M for El Pueblo Way property near their home

“It’s warm, it’s inviting, it’s elegant and it’s truly a home I would expect to see in Palm Beach," Alternate Commissioner Katherine Catlin said when the house on El Pueblo Way was approved unanimously in 2019.

Michael Perry of MP Design & Architecture designed both houses for the Lawries, town records show.

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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: Palm Beach couple sells house after building new custom home nearby