- Tarpon Island, Palm Beach's only private island, has sold for $150 million.
- The sale is the most expensive residential transaction to close in Florida so far this year.
- The buyer is Australian investments tycoon Michael Dorrell, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Editor’s note:This story was updated to include the buyer and reflect a recorded price of $150 million for the sale of 10 Tarpon Isle, as documented by the deed recorded May 20, 2024, by the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office. A previous version of the story reported a $152-million sale price based on a May 17 update of the closed sale in the Palm Beach Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service.
It’s not unusual for prices of transactions recorded at the courthouse to be lower than those reported in the MLS, according to real estate observers. Recorded prices may not include real estate commissions, fees and other costs associated with the transaction.
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Palm Beach just saw a new lakefront price record set with a recorded $150 million sale of Tarpon Island — the town’s only private island — andits newly renovated and expanded mega-mansion. The price was recorded May 20 with the deed documenting the transaction.
The Palm Beach Daily News was the first media outlet to report the sale.
Australian investments tycoon Michael Dorrell was the buyer behind limited liability company that bought the property, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, which cited “people familiar with the situation.” The Palm Beach Daily News has not independently confirmed Dorrell's involvement.
A sale price of $152 million had been reported May 17 by the Palm Beach Daily News, based on the closed sales listing in the multiple listing service for the property addressed as 10 Tarpon Isle.
The recorded price is the highest ever in Palm Beach for a property on the Intracoastal Waterway without additional ocean frontage.
The sale also is the most expensive residential transaction to close in Florida — and likely in the country — so far this year, according to real estate observers.
Dorrell is chairman, CEO and co-founder of New York City-based Stonespeak, an investments firm that specializes in investing in infrastructure. The company has several offices worldwide, including London and Sydney, Australia, according to its website.
The buyer appeared to have already taken occupancy of the estate before the sale closed, according to people familiar with the neighborhood.
Affording panoramic views of the Intracoastal Waterway, the artificialisland in the Estate Section measures about 2.3 acres with a combined 1,163 feet of waterfront on all four sides.The property was priced at $187.5 million when it sold. It holds the record as the most expensive Palm Beach house ever marketed in the MLS.
With 11 bedrooms, the two-story mansion has 28,618 total square feet of living space, inside and out. The long list of amenities includes one of the town’s only lighted tennis courts and two swimming pools, one of which stretches 98 feet along the lakefront with a whirlpool spa and a “cold plunge” pool.
DeveloperTodd Michael Glaserspearheaded the overhaul of the estate —through his eponymous Miami Beach-based real estate company — andled the investment groupthat just sold the property. Glaser previously told the Palm Beach Daily News that a confidentiality agreement prevents him and others involved in the sale from discussing the transaction or the buyer.
Bridge connects Palm Beach's Tarpon Island to the rest of town
But Glaser hadpreviously told the Palm Beach Daily Newsthat Tarpon Island’s location is like no other: “It has its own bridge. How many houses in Palm Beach have a bridge? None,” Glaser said in a December article about the house.
That picturesque bridge connects the island to the rest of Palm Beach’s Estate Section. The island also is accessible by boat.
Tarpon Island already held the record for the priciest Palm Beach lakefront property ever sold, a distinction it earned when Glaser and his investorsbought it for $85 millionin the summer of 2021 from its longtime owners, private investor William Toll and his wife, Eileen.
The reported price of the just-closed sale fell short of Palm Beach's two priciest residential real estate deals, which both closed last year —an off-market sale reported at $170 millionfor an oceanfront estate at 589 N. County Road; and a private transactionrecorded at $155 million for the estate of the late Rush Limbaughat 1495 N. Ocean Blvd. The deal on North County Road was structured so that the sale price was never documented at the courthouse.
The renovation on Tarpon Islandmore than doubled the size of the 1930s-era Bermudian-style houseon the east side of the property. The project turned that house into a guesthouse with an ultra-luxury fitness-and-beauty area. A new, much-larger addition with the main living areas was built onto the original house in a similar architectural style.The main residence has an expansive living area anda loggia with a fireplace, summer kitchen and bar facing the pool, the well-equipped dock and the water.
Miami investors on seller's side of Tarpon Island project in Palm Beach
Among the estate’s other features are a five-car garage and an extensive front motor court for parking. Other amenities include a paneled library/office and an entertainment room with a fireplace, wine storage, billiards area and movie lounge.Upstairs, the primary bedroom has two oversize marble-appointed bathrooms, while a separate wing houses guest bedrooms to supplement the VIP suites in the guesthouse.
Glaser’s investors included Jonathan Fryd of Fryd Properties in Miami; developer Scott Robins of Scott Robins Cos. in Miami Beach; and Randall Realty Group’s Jim Randall of Manalapan. The three men have invested in other Glaser-controlled projects in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade County, where the developer built his career before turning his attention to buying, building, renovating and selling homes in Palm Beach over the past several years.
There may have been other investors as well, but if so, Glaser has never identified them to the Palm Beach Daily News.
Real estate agents Suzanne Frisbie of the Corcoran Group and Chris Leavitt of Douglas Elliman Real Estate held the listing. Broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate also was involved on the sellers’ side.Frisbie, Leavitt and Angle declined to comment.
Agent Margit Brandt of Premier Estate Properties represented the buyer, the MLS shows. She also declined to comment.
The property had been under contract since the end of March, according to the MLS.
In an “exclusive”story, The Wall Street Journal said Dorrell declined to comment on the purchase via a Stonespeak spokesperson.
The deed shows the buyer to be MCI Properties LLC, a Delaware-registered limited liability company with a mailing address in care of estate-planning attorney Christian D. Curtis of Chaves Perlowitz Luftig in New York City.
West Palm Beach attorney Brad McPherson of the Gunster law firm is MCI Property LLC’s authorized signatory, records show. Simultaneously with the sale, McPherson signed a 15-year, $75-million mortgage with Bank of America, according to the mortgage document recorded by the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office.
Luftig could not be immediately reached, and McPherson declined to comment.
Palm Beach's Tarpon Island had undergone several price-tag changes
The estate had carriedits asking price of $187.5 millionsince November. But that price was down sharply from the$218 millionprice tag attached to the property while it was being built. The property was relisted at the lower price during the final stages of construction.
The estate first entered the market in October 2021 — during the height of Palm Beach’s pandemic-induced real estate boom —with a $125 million price tag that included only the land and renovation plans for the original house. At that time the property also was listed at a pre-construction price of $210million, which would have included the renovated house, before hitting the high of $218 million.
With a second pool and dock, the repurposed guesthouse’s extensive spa area offers a sauna and steam room, a hair-styling salon and staff quarters.The guesthouse nearly abuts the east property line, "so when you are in the gym, you feel like you are on a yacht," Glaser said previously.
A focal point of the addition to the west is an octagonal room, rising two stories, that overlooks the tennis court on the far west side of the property.The room can be used for formal dining or as a tennis-viewing pavilion.
Tarpon Island looks down the waterway toward Trump's Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach
Windows, patios, loggias, terraces and the dock on the south side of the house afford views straight down the Intracoastal Waterway for a little more than a mile to the Southern Boulevard Bridge, past former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club. The views also include houses onEverglades Island to the westand in Palm Beach’s Estate Section to the east.
ArchitectRoger Janssen of Dailey Janssen Architectsdrew up the plans for the Tarpon Island project. Christopher Cawley Landscape Architecture designed the grounds. The interior finishes were chosen by Glaser's wife, interior decorator Kim Glaser.
In the $170-million all-time record-setting sale on North County Road, car dealer MichaelCantanucciand his wife, Kimberly, bought the property from coffee mogul RobertStillerand his wife, Christine. Angle represented the Cantanuccis, negotiating opposite broker LawrenceMoensof Lawrence A.MoensAssociates.
The Palm Beach Daily News was unable to confirm if any agents were involved in the $155 million sale of 1495 N. Ocean Blvd.
When Tarpon Island last changed hands in July 2021, the house there had five bedrooms and 12,321 square feet, property records show. The lead agents in that sale were Frisbie, acting for Glaser's group, and agent Jim McCann of Premier Estate Properties, who represented the Tolls. The Tolls had paid a recorded $7.6 million for Tarpon Island in 1998, property records show.
Tarpon Island developer's primary home is in Palm Beach
“This is the most exciting piece of real estate I’ve ever bought and will be able to develop, other than the (historic) Carl Fisher estate in Miami Beach, which I bought in 2005,” Todd Glaser told the Palm Beach Daily News when his group bought Tarpon Island.
Glaser has bought and sold a number of houses in Palm Beach since 2017 — some he renovated and others he built on speculation, often with financing from investors. He and his wife own a landmarked house they renovated in the Estate Sectionat 125 Via Del Lago, which they have homesteaded as their primary residence in the latest tax rolls. He recentlysold a Palm Beach office buildingthat he had used as his family office at 125 Bradley Place.
Glaser made national headlines in 2021 when he bought and razed the former Palm Beach home of the late sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. That same year, he sold that Estate Section lot vacantfor a recorded $25.85 million. A new house is nearing completion on the property, which can easily be seen from Tarpon Island.
The original house on Tarpon Island was completed in December 1939, according to architectural historian Augustus Mayhew. Tarpon Islanditself was created by dredging crews in the 1930s.
Before Glaser broke ground at 10 Tarpon Isle, Frisbie described the project as his “next masterpiece” and said it was “artfully conceived and beautifully embraces Tarpon Island’siconic history. How often do we get to say ‘once in a lifetime’ and ‘one of a kind’ in the same sentence? This is it.”
This story was updated from a previous version. This is a developing story. Check back for any more updates. Portions of the story appeared previously in the Palm Beach Daily News.
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Darrell Hofheinz is aUSA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tipsabout real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call 561-820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz.
The Key Points at the top of this article were created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and reviewed by a journalist before publication. No other parts of the article were generated using AI. Learn more.
