Ross Dress for Less leader sells Palm Beach house for $13M, nearly double its 2020 price

Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News
Updated ·3 min read

The executive chairman of the parent company of retailer Ross Dress for Less has sold — for a recorded $13.075 million — the North End house his ownership company bought new for $6.56 million in July 2020.

The latest sale price for the ocean-block house at 154 Atlantic Ave. is almost double the documented price for the previous sale, which closed a few months after the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Palm Beach. The $6.515 million price difference likely reflects the real estate boom and escalating property values that accompanied the first years of the health crisis.

Seller Michael A. Balmuth sold the house through Simon Riley LLC, a Florida limited liability company with a mailing address in Stamford, Connecticut, the deed recorded Thursday shows. In addition to his role as executive chairman, Balmuth is a former CEO and president of Ross Stores Inc., which owns Ross Dress for Less and DD’s Discounts, retailers of off-price apparel and home accessories, according to the company’s website.

The deed recorded Thursday shows the buyer is another limited liability company. That entity is named after the property’s address and has a mailing address at a house in Bedford, New York, according to the deed. Public records link entrepreneur Dorothy Lanier and financial executive Clifford Anderson Lanier III to the ownership of the property in Bedford.

Clifford Anderson Lanier III's resume includes tenure as an executive at Jefferies, the New York City-headquartered global securities and investment-banking firm, according to online sources.

Built on speculation and completed in early 2020, the Bermuda-style house has four bedrooms and 4,683 square feet of living space, inside and out. It stands on a lot of a little less than a quarter-acre, a few blocks north of the Royal Poinciana Way commercial district.

A Bermuda-style house at 154 Atlantic Ave. on the near North End of Palm Beach has changed hands for a recorded $13.075 million after being listed for sale at just under $15 million. The sale price was nearly double what the property last sold for in July 2020.
A Bermuda-style house at 154 Atlantic Ave. on the near North End of Palm Beach has changed hands for a recorded $13.075 million after being listed for sale at just under $15 million. The sale price was nearly double what the property last sold for in July 2020.

Michael Perry of MP Design & Architecture in Palm Beach designed the house, which has a front entry topped by scalloped parapet at the roofline and a balcony above the porch. The color scheme also is typically Bermudian, with a white facade, a white-tile roof and light blue-green shutters.

The layout includes a foyer and stair hall, a great room, a study and a two-car garage. The kitchen is open to the family room. There's a first-floor master suite, and upstairs are a loft and three guest suites. French doors in some of the downstairs rooms lead to the backyard, which features an arbor as well as a pool with a sun shelf and whirlpool spa.

Corcoran Group agents Dana Koch and Paulette Koch had the listing, which entered the market in November at $14.95 million. The price never wavered, according to the multiple listing service.

Agent Elizabeth Savage of Brown Harris Stevens handled the buyer’s side, the MLS shows.

Savage and Dana Koch declined to comment about the transaction.

Corcoran’s sales listing described the property as a “nearly new” home that “exudes sophistication with its high-end finishes, including wide-plank white-oak floors, marble mosaics and custom cabinetry/moldings throughout.” Other features include a fireplace, a Savant smart-home system, hurricane-impact windows, a generator and tankless hot water heaters.

The house was built by Purucker & Marrano Custom Homes, which sold it to Balmuth’s company in 2020. The property’s southern exposure, principal Gary Purucker told the Daily News in 2020, “gives it natural light inside and a lot of sunlight in the backyard, which is great for sunbathing around the pool in the winter.”

The rear of a just-sold house at 154 Atlantic Ave. in Palm Beach faces a lap pool. The seller bought the house new shortly after it was completed in 2020.
The rear of a just-sold house at 154 Atlantic Ave. in Palm Beach faces a lap pool. The seller bought the house new shortly after it was completed in 2020.

In the 2020 sale, Dana Koch and Paulette Koch handled the buyer’s side, while Heather Purucker Bretzlaff and Craig Bretzlaff, agents with Douglas Elliman Real Estate, represented the developer, Palm Beach Gardens-based G.W Purucker Homes J.V.

The developer had paid a recorded $2.65 million for the property in April 2018 and knocked down two houses there to build the house that just sold.

*

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.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Ross Dress for Less leader linked to $13M home sale in Palm Beach