Vacant Palm Beach lot sees price hike to $200M and includes concept drawings for mansion

An ocean-to-lake property fronting Sloan’s Curve in Palm Beach is has gotten a price hike to $200 million from $150 million — and the new price includes “concept drawings” for an Italian-style mansion drawn up by a prominent architect on the island.

“I think the market has caught up to the (new) price,” said Shelly Newman of the Corcoran Group, who initially listed the property at 1980 S. Ocean Blvd. at $150 million in March 2022.

The property Newman has listed comprises two separate parcels — one with water frontage on the the Intracoastal Waterway and the other facing the stretch of South Ocean Boulevard that marks the southern terminus of so-called “Billionaire’s Row.” Combined the two parcels measure about two acres and lie immediately south of casino-and-resort billionaire Steve Wynn’s estate.

The eastern parcel faces 155 feet of  beachfront across the coastal road, while the irregularly shaped lakeside lot has about 270 feet of waterfront. The properties could be combined into a single estate or developed separately.

Both parcels are owned by attorney and real estate investor Nathan Royce Silverstein, who has ties to Newark, New Jersey, property records show. The land hasn’t changed hands in more than 50 years.

Palm Beach has yet to see any property sell for $200 million, although real estate observers have told the Palm Beach Daily News that number is certainly in the realm of possibility, given the bustling activity that has characterized the island’s market since President Donald Trump won the White House in November. On Feb. 6, the Wall Street Journal reported billionaire William P. Lauder had struck a deal to sell two side-by-side vacant lots — measuring about 2 acres on the ocean at 1063 and 1071 N. Ocean Blvd. — with a combined asking price of about $178 million.

Newman also said her property’s rarity is a major selling point. When the listing goes active with the higher price in the multiple listing service on Feb. 10, it’s expected to be the only ocean-to-lake estate listed in Palm Beach.

Among the property’s selling points, she says, is its Billionaires Row address and its relatively high elevation, which could deliver ocean views from the ground-floor of a house built there.

“We’ve always felt the property is so important that we believe someone would put something important on it,” Newman said. “This property has a true ‘estate’ feeling,” Newman said.

Toward that end, the property is being marketed with concept drawings — complete with lavish renderings — for an Italian-style residence designed by architect and Palm Beach Architectural Commission Vice Chairman Richard Sammons of Fairfax, Sammons and Partners. Although the house and guesthouse Sammons designed meet the town’s zoning- and building-code requirements, the plans have not been presented to the architectural board, which would have to approve them for the estate to be built.

But the drawings and renderings would give a potential buyer an idea of what could be built on the property, Newman said, which is presently obscured from the view of drivers on Sloan’s Curve by tall trees and thick vegetation. The curve on South Ocean Boulevard connects the mansions of the Estate Section to “Condominium Row,” so-called because of the collection of multi-family buildings there.

The driveway into 1980 S. Ocean Blvd. would be placed about midway on the curve, which runs along the property’s south side. Newman and Sammons are confident that drivers entering and exiting the estate could do so safely.

Navigating “the curve is no more of an issue than pulling out of many driveways on the island,” Newman said. “There is a big open span from the proposed driveway, (allowing drivers) to see if a car is coming.”

If built, the house Sammons designed would have about 20,000 square feet of living space, inside and out.

If a buyer chose to pursue the design — or tweak it to their own preferences — it could shave time off of Town Hall’s often-lengthy approval process for sizable estates, Newman said.

“It’s an Italian-style house, specifically from the Veneto region,” Sammons previously told the Palm Beach Daily News.

The architecture, he added, is a “17th-century expression” of classical Palladian design. The site plan, meanwhile, was designed to deliver ocean and lake views.

The oceanfront, seven-bedroom main house would have an expansive lakeside family wing with a square tower feature. There would also be room for three staff bedrooms, plus a separate two-bedroom guesthouse near the proposed dock.

The conceptual plans show a two-story house with a lower level. On the lake side — where Sammons placed a swimming pool — a series of terraces cascade down toward the waterway

The floorplan would feature a central entrance hall leading to a grand staircase and a 22-by-60-foot oceanfront great room with 14-foot ceilings, Sammons previously told the Palm Beach Daily News.

In addition to the eight-car garage on the lowest level, the house would have an expansive motor court on its south side.

The main driveway on Sloan’s Curve, Sammons said, might also include a service entrance positioned nearer the lake, Sammons said.

The property was once part of the estate of the late Alfred P. Sloan Jr., a former chairman of General Motors Corp. and the namesake of Sloan’s Curve. Although the two lots are not being marketed for sale separately, a buyer could conceivably build two houses on them, perhaps for members of the same family, Newman said.

To see more photos of the “concept” mansion designed for 1980 S. Ocean Blvd. in Palm Beach, click on the photo gallery near the top of this page.

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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 lot’s price hiked to $200M with concept-mansion drawings

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