A palm beach spread characterized as "a compound of pavilions in the caribbean style, popularized by the late designer Oliver Messel" consisting of a two bedroom main house, seven bedroom guest house, and expansive master bedroom wing connected by a loggia on over two acres of oceanfront land (oh, and a private road deeded over to the property by the city) has sold for $41.5 million, which some are calling the biggest sale in Palm Beach in recent memory. Actually, it's just since 2008, when Donald Trump sold a $95 million house to Dmitry Rybolovlev, the Russian tycoon known for extravagant property purchases (check out what happened to his property in the divorce!).
The $41.5 million place is being sold by the trust of one couple, Stanley and Gay Gaines, to, well, somebody in Scottsdale. After digging, the Palm Beach Daily News, which is rather used to one person's trust selling real estate to another person's trust, and not directly from person to person, couldn't exactly figure out who the new owner is. They ultimately came upon the name of billionaire Bruce T. Halle, who already has an oceanfront house in Palm Beach (purchased by an irrevocable trust in his name), but it's unclear whether the house is for him or not, or if he plans to sell (ahem, whether his trust plans to sell...) his old place or not. Either way, all these trusts are giving us a headache.
Oh, and just for the sake of namedropping, the Gaineses had already sold a sliver of the property to the head of Barnes & Noble. They also demolished a house on the site which had formerly been occupied by Aldo Gucci. The current house is at 1473 N. Ocean Boulevard.
· Largest deal since 2008 [Palm Beach Daily News]
· Palm Beach mansions sells for $41.5 million [DBR]
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