There was a time when, not too long ago, the idea of a single-family home or apartment selling for $100 million or more was merely a pipe dream for billionaires and high-powered real estate agents. In some of the country’s premium zip codes, $100+ million dollar deals have become increasingly commonplace as the ultra-rich have just gotten richer and have piles of money burning holes in their pockets.
A Silicon Valley spread sold for $117.5 million in 2013, allegedly to billionaire SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, which began the trend. The following year, in Greenwich, Conn., the historic Copper Beech Farm estate fetched $120 million — it was purchased by hedge fund fat cat Ray Dalio, and several months later, a stunning 18-acre oceanfront estate in East Hampton, N.Y., was sold for $147 million to billionaire hedge fund manager Barry Rosenstein.
In 2019, property collecting hedge funder Ken Griffin dropped $238 million on a 23,000-square-foot penthouse atop New York’s 220 Central Park South, and Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg sold a six-acre spread in Beverly Hills to trophy property collecting WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum for $125 million last year, a deal dwarfed earlier in the year by Jeff Bezos’ $165 million purchase of Beverly Hills’ legendary Jack Warner Estate.
In Palm Beach, Fla., several homes have traded at more than $100 million this year. A 30,000-square-foot property with ocean views and Intracoastal Waterway access sold for 9.6 million, while a 21,000-square-foot contemporary facing the Atlantic Ocean sold for $122.7 million.
It has been announced that south Florida developer Todd Michael Glaser and his partners, including Miami developer Johnathan Fryd and Miami Beach developer Scott Robins, will be joining this exclusive club of whale sellers in Palm Beach by listing Tarpon Island, a Palm Beach estate that occupies a private island all to itself. Buyers will have two options, according to The Wall Street Journal, the first to report on the issue. As it stands, they can acquire the property for 0 million or, after a major overhaul and expansion, for $200 million. However, Glaser told the Wall Street Journal that the asking price could rise to more than $200 million once the renovation is complete.
