The direct-oceanfront condo at 100 Royal Palm Way facing Midtown Beach landed under contract within a month of its listing at $15 million by broker Linda Olsson, the multiple listing service shows.
Palm Beach Daily News
“It only takes one,” is a common catchphrase among Palm Beach real estate agents when they talk about the pool of potential buyers with pockets deep enough for pricey properties.
And sometimes that “one” shows up quickly, especially when the property is singular itself.
That’s exactly what happened recently when a trophy condominium facing Midtown Beach sailed smoothly under contract, less than a month after it was listed for sale in the middle of the summer at $15 million. The penthouse last changed hands for $2.65 million in March 2000, property records show.
Midtown condo sale:What made this penthouse in Midtown Palm Beach worth $9 million? Hint: the size and views
Big South End sale:An $8.5 million Palm Beach condo sale sets South End record amid rush of big deals there
Penthouse 1 is on the top floor of 100 Royal Palm Way, a six-story building with a serpentine silhouette on the northwest corner of South Ocean Boulevard.
The condo sits directly on the curve of the building, and as a result offers unobstructed views of the ocean on the other side of the coastal road through its glass doors and from its wraparound terrace, which measures a staggering 3,000 square feet or thereabouts. Stand there, look to the north and you can see all the way to The Breakers, a half-mile away.
No wonder broker Linda Olsson of Linda R. Olsson Inc., Realtor, described the apartment in her listing as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” — and then added: “There is only one.”
In addition to the terrace, the condo has 2,870 feet of custom-renovated living space, with a layout that includes three bedrooms plus an office. Doors fitted with impact-resistant glass provide access to the terrace from all the main rooms.
Built at the tail end of the 1960s, the pet-friendly building has about 40 apartments, along with a pool, patio area, garage parking, an on-site manager and door staff.
The penthouse is being sold by Jacquelyn Higgins, property records show. She is the widow of James Francis Higgins, who retired as president and chief operating officer of Morgan Stanley before his death in 2016.
Olsson has been busy over the past year tallying up high-dollar condo sales. In April she represented Palm Beach Civic Association Chairman and CEO Bob Wright — a former chief of NBC Universal — and his wife, Susan, when they closed a West Palm Beach penthouse sale recorded at $8.7 million at 225 S. Flagler Drive. That lakefront deal, which involved Unit GPH1 on the 33rd floor of the development’s north building, set a sales record for The Plaza of the Palm Beaches, formerly known as Trump Plaza, according to records at the courthouse and in the multiple listing service. Olsson also acted for the buyer, businessman and winemaker Marc D. Taub, in the sale at The Plaza.
Bob Wright owns a house through a trust on the North End of Palm Beach, courthouse records show.
Olsson isn’t commenting about either condo deal, so there’s no word on when the sale at 100 Royal Palm Way will close, the identity of the buyer, or the amount that will change hands.
Whatever the final sale price, the deal will add further evidence to the continuing appeal — and ongoing price escalation — of extraordinary and rare oceanfront apartments along Midtown Beach’s condo row.
In mid-June, a just-renovated oceanfront condo down the street from 100 Royal Palm Way changed hands for a recorded $15 million at the boutique Kirkland House, 101 Worth Ave. In that deal, health care information-technology entrepreneur Y. Michele Yang sold her three-bedroom unit, No. 3A, which slices through the building east to west on the north side of the building with 4,130 total square feet. The buyer 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.
The listing agents at the Kirkland House were Brown Harris Stevens’ Ann Summers and Caldwell Colt Robinson. And how did they describe the condo? You guessed it — a “one-of-a-kind offering,” according to their sales listing.
And in July, Joe L. Roby, chairman emeritus of Credit Suisse First Boston, and his wife, Hilppa, paid a recorded $9.02 million for an unusual double penthouse with three-bedrooms on the sixth floor of the landmarked 400 Building, also facing Midtown Beach’s condo row. The Robys bought PH D-E at 400 S. Ocean Blvd. from the family of the late Dyanne Connelly Tosi, who had purchased two next-door units with her late husband, Lawrence, in 1997, and combined them into a single apartment with 3,607 total square feet. Paul and Pamela Birmingham of Sotheby’s International Realty were the listing agents, negotiating opposite agent Elaine M. Edwards of Brown Harris Stevens.
And by the way, if you’re shopping for a tippy-top-dollar condo in Midtown right now, four other direct-oceanfront apartments are for sale, all at 2 N. Breakers Row and ranging in price from $10.5 million to $19.5 million, the MLS shows. The other uber-pricey Midtown condominium on the market isn’t on the water but in the Via Flagler at The Breakers development on Royal Poinciana Way, priced at $19 million.