Palm Beach real estate: Unit 906 at the Biltmore is indeed a modern marvel
Washington, D.C., resident Liz Dubin has a longtime connection to No. 905, in the Palm Beach Biltmore. She loved the apartment as a visitor, when it was her parents’ residence, and after inheriting it, she loved living there as a snowbird. “My parents bought it (in 1988) after it was turned into a condo. I love the Biltmore,” she says.
She shares a semi-private elevator foyer with condominium No. 906, and when that came up for sale last year, she bought it and redecorated it with local designer Keith Carrington of Keith Carrington Designs and the architectural-design consulting firm Daza Designs Inc.
“I was thinking to relocate to Palm Beach and I did 906 for my visiting family. I was going to have the whole floor and I had a vision as to how I’d do it, but my plans didn’t work out,” she says. “Washington is my home, and my ties there are much greater.”
As such, she’s selling the two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit, No. 906, with 2,231 square feet of living space inside and out. Douglas Elliman agent Catherine Applegate holds the listing. Priced at $10.9 million, the furniture is available separately.
“The apartment was beautiful. The previous owners had gutted it and renovated it with all new bathrooms, kitchen, new systems and lighting just a few years ago,” she says. “I took out a partition between the den and the living room to make one big room, and that’s all I did. But cosmetically, Keith and I did a lot.
“We enhanced it amazingly.”
For its layout, the south-facing great room overlooks Palm Beach, bordered by the Intracoastal and the ocean. West of the great room are the bedroom suites. The main suite views Palm Beach, the Intracoastal, and the West Palm Beach skyline. The guest bedroom suite views the Intracoastal. East of the great room are the ocean-view kitchen, the laundry room, and an interior room that can serve as a bonus bedroom or office. Additionally, the apartment comes with garage parking for one car.
About the interiors, Dubin says: “Keith is fantastic. His ideas are great. The apartment is just the way we envisioned it, very open, very contemporary, with views that are unbelievable.
“With contemporary furniture, the art and the bar, it’s a fantastic apartment. It works for children, and it’s also great when entertaining, because the great room and the bar have the kitchen right next to them.”
The ceilings are 11 feet high. Floors are predominantly marble, and most of the moldings were already in place. The kitchen cabinetry features back-painted Lucite and porcelain tiles. For her part, Dubin repainted and updated the lighting and audiovisual systems. She installed new carpeting, and she put in woven Roman shades and double-layer sheer curtains.
Keith Carrington comments: “The views are dramatic and luminous. We wanted a modern, simple look with dramatic lighting in the evenings.” He also makes notes of other features they implemented. “Helen Kelsey hand-painted the finish in the living area; it’s a modeled iridescent white glaze. The tray ceiling in the foyer is finished in mica flakes from Maya Romanoff. It’s silver and reflective.”
Other new features: the custom bar is made of Kinon, a high-end cast resin, topped with backlighted blue Italian recycled glass. In the main bedroom, the limestone flooring is new, as well as the hand-painted silk wall covering by Fromental behind the bed and the marbleized Kinon surfaces framing the picture window.
Dubin appreciates the location, which is close to restaurants and shops, and she enjoys the Biltmore’s amenities. “The services are amazing and the beach club is fantastic. (During season), it’s open six days a week for lunch and one night a week for dinner. We have a great chef.”
The Palm Beach Biltmore, a landmarked building at 150 Bradley Place, was constructed in 1926 as The Alba Hotel and converted into residences in the late 1970s.It has 11 floors in its central section and seven floors in its two wings. In addition to the oceanside beach club, which also delivers meals to condo residents, amenities include 24-hour security personnel, saunas, an exercise room, tennis courts, an Olympic-size salt-water pool and boat docks.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach real estate: Condo at The Biltmore listed at $10.9 million
