Sea-to-lake estate fetches $26.78 million in Manalapan, MLS shows

Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News
·3 min read
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Developed in 1968, the house at 1860 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan near Palm Beach features a series of structures with a geodesic-dome design. With 2½ acres, the ocean-to-lake estate just sold for a land-value price of $26.775 million.
Developed in 1968, the house at 1860 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan near Palm Beach features a series of structures with a geodesic-dome design. With 2½ acres, the ocean-to-lake estate just sold for a land-value price of $26.775 million.

Resembling something out of a science-fiction movie, an ocean-to-lake house built in the 1960s with a series of geodesic dome-shaped structures has sold for its land value at $26.775 million just south of Palm Beach.

The sale of 1860 S. Ocean Blvd. in the wealthy town of Manalapan was reported Friday afternoon in the multiple listing service. The property had not changed hands in 44 years, property records show.

Because a deed for the sale had not been recorded Friday at the Palm Beach County Courthouse, the buyer’s identity wasn’t immediately available in public records. It was also unclear if the price reported in the MLS would match the one to be documented with the deed.

In all, the property measures 2½ acres and has 200 feet of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway and about the same on the beachfront. The home on the estate stands on the lakefront parcel, which is separated from the ocean parcel by the coastal road. The estate lies about a half-mile north of the Boynton Beach Inlet.

At 1860 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan, an ocean-to-lake estate obscured by dense trees in the center of the photo has sold for a land value price of $26.775 million, according to the multiple listing service. The property comprises 2½ acres.
At 1860 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan, an ocean-to-lake estate obscured by dense trees in the center of the photo has sold for a land value price of $26.775 million, according to the multiple listing service. The property comprises 2½ acres.

The property was apparently sold by businessman Stephen D. Cohen as trustee of the Cohen Family Trust, property records show. Cohen and his wife, Jeanette, had the estate homesteaded as their primary residence in the latest tax rolls. They bought the property for $620,000 in January 1978 when they were residents of Westchester, New York, according to courthouse filings.

Agent Shelly Newman of William Raveis South Florida listed the property for sale in late May 2021, initially at $29.9 million. But in November, she dropped the price to $27.5 million. The sale had an extended closing date, as the property had landed under contract in early January, the MLS shows.

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Broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates negotiated opposite Newman in the sale.

Moens could not be reached for comment, and Newman declined to discuss the sale.

The estate, which was developed in 1968, has four bedrooms and 5,918 square feet of living space, inside and out, according to property records.

Newman’s sales listing mentioned that plans were available for a town-approved oceanfront cabana. Such a cabana could be up to 1,000 square feet in size and have another 250 square feet of decking.

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Like all Manalapan properties, the property was sold with a gratis membership to the La Coquille Club, part of the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa.

In April, the Cohens paid a recorded $3.47 million for a Palm Beach condominium, No. 2-D-2, in the 2500 development at 2500 S. Ocean Blvd. They bought the three-bedroom, 3,590-square-foot unit from Arlene Staley, who acted as trustee of a trust in her name, courthouse records show. Agent Thor Brown of Douglas Elliman Real Estate handled both sides of the sale of the condo, which has direct ocean views.

The balcony offers a direct ocean view from the Palm Beach condominium that former Manalapan residents Stephen and Jeanette Cohen bought in April at the 2500 development on South Ocean Boulevard.
The balcony offers a direct ocean view from the Palm Beach condominium that former Manalapan residents Stephen and Jeanette Cohen bought in April at the 2500 development on South Ocean Boulevard.

Manalapan saw a rush of sales during the past 18 months after buyers descended on neighboring Palm Beach during the coronavirus pandemic and gobbled up the housing inventory. That sent some of those would-be buyers looking south to Manalapan, where the majority of properties are larger ocean-to-lake properties.

In June, tech billionaire Larry Ellison set a Florida sales-price record when he paid a recorded $173 million for a 15.65-acre estate — plus part of a nearby island — at 2000 S. Ocean Blvd. on the far south end of Manalapan. Moens represented the buyer and the seller, internet billionaire Jim Clark, in that transaction.

Billionaire buyer in Manalapan: Larry Ellison, among world’s richest people, bought Florida estate for $173 million

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This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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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: Sale of sea-to-lake estate approaches $27 million south of Palm Beach