Citadel’s Kenneth Griffin Buys Four Properties in Palm Beach for $130 Million

 

Located in the Blossom Estate subdivision, near Palm Beach’s Bath and Tennis Club, the four properties range in size from 1.64 acres to 2.21 acres. Three of the properties are adjacent and along the ocean, with the fourth landlocked property behind the southernmost oceanfront property. The parcels total nearly 8 acres.

Palm Beach broker Lawrence Moens, of Lawrence A. Moens Associates, brokered all four deals, which were deeded on Dec. 27, according to public records. He declined to discuss the deals, citing confidentiality agreements. None of the properties was on the multiple-listing service.

According to public records, Mary Bolton, widow of philanthropist Kenyon Bolton, owned two of the four properties: the landlocked parcel with a 4,376-square-foot home that sold for $14.3 million and an oceanfront property with a 9,988-square-foot home that sold for $35.7 million.

The remaining two properties were contiguous oceanfront lots. One was owned by a trust and sold for $41.65 million; the trust that owned it paid $29.15 million for that property in April 2011, according to public records. That property, pictured above in the middle, no longer has a house on it; the house was torn down before Mr. Griffin’s purchase.

The third and last oceanfront property purchased by Mr. Griffin has a 14,354-square-foot home and sold for $37.95 million. It was previously owned by Walter McPhail, former CEO of Lectron Products, and his wife, Mary Anne, an equestrian enthusiast; records show the couple bought the property in 2000 for $13 million.

A source familiar with the deals says all the properties used to be part of one large estate years ago. Other property owners who have sizable acreage in Palm Beach include developer Dwight Schar, who owns 11 acres, and businessman Nelson Peltz, who has 13 acres.

Mr. Griffin grew up in Boca Raton, not far from Palm Beach. Based in Chicago, he paid a record price of $15 million in November for a penthouse at Park Tower, where he’s combining the penthouse with the floor below for a two-story penthouse.

—Alyssa Abkowitz

-Wall Street Journal -AA -February 14, 2013, 10:37 p.m. ET