Linda R. Olsson Inc., Realtor

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Palm Beach Penthouse Sells for Asking Price of $15M to Commercial Real Estate Entrepreneur

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With a balcony measuring about 3,000 square feet, the apartment is on the top floor of a condominium building facing the ocean at 100 Royal Palm Way.

Sold for its asking price of $15 million, Penthouse 1 at 100 Royal Palm Way has 5,870 square feet of living space, inside and on its oceanfront balcony. Glass doors in the living area access the terrace and capture unobstructed views of the sea.

A Palm Beach penthouse with an extraordinarily large balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean has sold for its asking price of $15 million. The sale price was recorded with the deed.

The buyers of Penthouse 1 at 100 Royal Palm Way were Rhonda and Clifford R. Fischer, the deed shows. He founded and is chairman and CEO of Fischer, a commercial real estate firm based in Dallas. 

The recorded price ties a record set in June for the most-expensive condominium ever to sell on Midtown Beach’s so-called condominium row, which stretches between Royal Palm Way and Hammon Avenue. Other condominiums elsewhere in town have sold for more. 

The four-bedroom condominium last changed hands for a recorded $2.65 million in March 2000, property records show. 

The terrace of an oceanfront penthouse follows the curve of the condominium building at 100 Royal Palm Way in Palm Beach. The rare-to-the market penthouse just sold for its asking price of $15 million, according to courthouse records and the multiple listing service.

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Courthouse records show the penthouse was home to Jacquelyn Higgins, widow of James Francis Higgins, who retired as president and chief operating officer of Morgan Stanley before his death in 2016. The couple purchased the apartment 22 years ago from a trust in the name of Lorraine Gallagher Freimann, property records show. 

Clifford Fischer’s company specializes in developing technology to help companies manage their real estate portfolios, according to its website. The company also brokers leases and provides other tenant-representative services in industrial, office and retail transactions. 

The penthouse has 2,870 feet of custom-renovated living space, with a layout that includes three bedrooms plus a library. The balcony measures about 3,000 square feet and wraps around the curve of the six-story building on the southwest corner of South Ocean Boulevard. 

The $15 million sales price means the buyer paid $2,555 per square foot.

Balcony wraps around the curve of the Palm Beach building

A four-bedroom condominium, Penthouse 1 at 100 Royal Palm Way, has sold for $15 million.

The condo’s position in the building provides unobstructed views of the ocean on the opposite side of the coastal road. The vistas from the balcony stretch north to The Breakers, a half-mile away.  

Glass doors fitted with impact-resistant glass in all the main rooms offer sea views and provide access to the terrace. Even the kitchen has a view of the ocean.

Broker Linda Olsson of Linda R. Olsson Inc., Realtor, handled both sides of the sale, according to the MLS. She could not be reached for comment.

Clifford Fisher and Higgins also could not be reached.

Olsson listed the penthouse for sale July 21 and had it under contract about three weeks later, the MLS shows. The sale closed Thursday.

Olsson’s sales listing described the apartment as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for a buyer. “There is only one,” it said. 

The main living area has stone floors and an elaborately coffered ceiling with hand-painted insets. Rooms throughout feature richly detailed paneling, moldings and other millwork.

In addition to the main living-and-dining area, the layout includes a butler’s pantry with built-in wine storage.

Built at the tail end of the 1960s, the building has about 40 apartments, along with a pool, patio area, underground garage parking, an on-site manager and door staff. 

The condominium defines the northern edge of Midtown’s condo row. 

Higgins had the penthouse homesteaded in the latest tax rolls

Courthouse records show that in June 2020, Higgins signed a deed transferring ownership of the penthouse to a Delaware limited liability company named 100 Royal Palm Way LLC. A document recorded in October 2020 shows the company executed a 99-year lease of the penthouse to Higgins. That arrangement allowed her to maintain her homestead exemption for a primary residence in the Palm Beach County tax rolls.

The limited liability company that owned the house was listed on the deed as the seller. The document listed its manager as Michael Higgins. Jacqueline Higgins has a son by that name.

The other condo that sold for a recorded $15 million on the same stretch of the coastal road changed hands in mid-June at the Kirkland House, 101 Worth Ave. In that deal, health care information-technology entrepreneur Y. Michele Yang sold No. 3A, a three-bedroom unit with 4,130 total square feet. The sale price works out to $3,632 per square foot. The buyer at the Kirkland House was a trust associated with Texas businessman and venture capitalist Bennie Bray and wife Stephanie, who were represented by agent Allison Wren of the Corcoran Group. Brown Harris Stevens’ Ann Summers and Caldwell Colt Robinson had the Kirkland House listing.

This story was updated Sept. 19, 2022 — the day the deed was recorded for the sale of Penthouse 1 at 100 Royal Palm Way — to include information about the buyers.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates. 

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