Palm Beach real estate is a gold mine of rock stars, movie stars and sordid billionaires

Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post
·4 min read
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Welcome to The Dirt! I’m real estate reporter Kimberly Miller with the latest developments in the sizzling market.

We've said it before and we'll say it again, The Dirt is rich with celebrity and burdened by a sprinkling of infamy. Why? Because Palm Beach is a gold mine of rock stars, movie stars, cooking stars, and a few sordid billionaires, including the late serial molester Jeffrey Epstein whose estate was bulldozed to the ground last year.

The land is now slated for a new home. Palm Beach Daily News reporter Darrell Hofheinz got his hands on a few of the renderings, and you don't want to miss the new look.

“Rocky” and “Rambo” star Sylvester Stallone paid a recorded $35.38 million for this lakeside estate at 1480 N. Lake Way.
“Rocky” and “Rambo” star Sylvester Stallone paid a recorded $35.38 million for this lakeside estate at 1480 N. Lake Way.

Also, as if you could forget, Sylvester Stallone has a lakefront estate in Palm Beach and there's no better time than a cranky divorce to take a look at his excellent home. Darrell takes readers on a tour this week detailing manor à la Rocky/Rambo/Cobra/Judge Dredd (add your favorite character here).

On the other end of the island, a historic Addison Mizner mansion is being saved from Davey Jones's Locker by a woman who has battled more than just climate change to rescue the house. There's a fun behind-the-scenes note with this story. A fact checker said I couldn't use the word decadent to describe Mar-a-Lago. I was shocked. We still have fact checkers? But, really, is it because Mar-a-Lago isn't decadent?

I guess the fact checker has never seen the golden ballroom or golden bathroom fixtures or gold leaf-covered ceiling. Yeesh.

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Will Stallone estate be up for grabs in rocky divorce?

Actor Sylvester Stallone (L) and model Jennifer Flavin attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on February 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California.
Actor Sylvester Stallone (L) and model Jennifer Flavin attend the 88th Annual Academy Awards on February 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California.

The Dirt would like to know if Sylvester Stallone's lakeside mansion will soon be on the market with the divorce and all.  Asking for a friend.

As Darrell writes, there's good reason why Jennifer Stallone — a former model and beauty-and-cosmetics entrepreneur — might not want to leave the house. It's a beaut Clark. 

The rising water was only the first obstacle

Ann DesRuisseaux is raising a century-old Mizner mansion to mitigate future sea level rise at 800 South County Road in Palm Beach, Fla.
Ann DesRuisseaux is raising a century-old Mizner mansion to mitigate future sea level rise at 800 South County Road in Palm Beach, Fla.

During the first year of the pandemic, Palm Beach Post reporters were taking turns helping out the Shiny Sheet during lean staff times, and we were happy to do it! I didn't know much about the effort to raise the Addison Mizner estate at 800 South County before that.

But one day I heard the frustration in a woman's voice during a preservation meeting and it piqued my interest. It's an engaging tale of someone willing to go all out — emotionally and monetarily — to salvage the Venetian-style house. There were some, um, stumbles along the way.

Water, water everywhere except this year

Dry conditions are seen in the Grassy Waters Preserve Wednesday, May 13, 2020 in West Palm Beach
Dry conditions are seen in the Grassy Waters Preserve Wednesday, May 13, 2020 in West Palm Beach

In my former life I was a weather reporter and I occasionally slip back into that role when the s*%t hits the fan, and, really, weather is real estate. No water, no residents.

This summer was seriously hot and dry and we're headed for a triple dip La Niña, which could mean drought this dry season. Lake Okeechobee is about to enter its slightly ominous — no cause for panic yet, nothing to see here — low water stage where we start thinking about dealing with a parched winter.

Rent hikes are slowly slowing in Palm Beach County

The Guatemalan Maya Center organized a rally on housing affordability at Lake Worth Beach town hall Saturday July 30, 2022.
The Guatemalan Maya Center organized a rally on housing affordability at Lake Worth Beach town hall Saturday July 30, 2022.

Rents have been going crazier than a Kardashian at the plastic surgeon's office, but they are slowing down from their lightning-fast rise over the past year. Still, there's not a lot of help in the short run.

My editors want a story from the landlord's perspective. So, if you know any chatty landlords willing to go on the record, send them my way, please.

And don't miss senior business reporter Alexandra Clough's piece on the tourism industry's concern about how the high cost of living could hurt hospitality workers, and, in turn, local businesses.

Cape Dutch-style house approved for former Epstein lot

A bird's-eye rendering shows a just-approved Palm Beach house with Cape Dutch-style architecture designed for 360 El Brillo Way.
A bird's-eye rendering shows a just-approved Palm Beach house with Cape Dutch-style architecture designed for 360 El Brillo Way.

You may be asking, "What's Cape Dutch-style?" Well, I am here to tell you that I have no idea.

But, that's why we have luxury real estate reporter Darrell Hofheinz with all the details on the new home that's been approved for the former El Brillo Way estate of Jeffrey Epstein. Apparently it's a design common in South Africa, but I'll let the expert explain below.

Live lightly.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach real estate: Full of celebrities, rock stars, billionaires