A house directly on the beachfront in the North End of Palm Beach has landed under contract with an asking price of $76 million, according to the multiple listing service.
Built in 1980, the house stands on six-tenths of an acre with 125 feet of oceanfront at 5 Via Los Incas. The cul-de-sac is about halfway between The Breakers resort and the Palm Beach Country Club.
There’s no word yet as to who is buying the the property or how much will change hands. But people familiar with the property said the buyer is from Miami Beach.
The six-bedroom, one-story house and its pool cabana have a combined 8,561 square feet, according to the listing prepared by agent Gary Pohrer of Serhant. He declined to discuss the pending sale.
The house is owned by the Finneran Family Foundation, which shares its name with the late William “Bill” Buckley Finneran, who died in 2019 at 79. He bought the house in 2007 for $17 million, property records show.
Finneran spent most of his career in the financial sector and was a founding partner at EXOP Capital LLC in New York City. He also was chairman and CEO of Edison Control Corp.
Agent Spencer Schlager of Douglas Elliman Real Estate confirmed that he was representing the buyer who put the house under contract. But Schlager declined to comment further.
Direct-beachfront properties have become rare birds in the Palm Beach market, real estate observers have noted, and as a result are continuing to earn premium prices when they list and when they sell.
The property went under contract Aug. 7, the MLS shows.
The house was developed by the late developer Robert Gottfried, who was involved with all of the houses on Via Los Incas, which reflect his signature Palm Beach Regency architectural style.
Like others Gottfried residences, the one at 5 Via Los Incas has expansive rooms with high ceilings, marble floors and multiple windows and glass doors to capture views of the sea. The living area, other rooms and a loggia face the ocean.
The exterior architecture features elements common to the Palm Beach Regency style, including a flat roof, quoins at the corners and columns at the front porch, which is crowed by a triangular pediment.
In late 2022, a six-bedroom house immediately to the south at 6 Via Los Incas sold privately for a recorded $66 million, courthouse records show. Built in 1981, that house’s direct-beachfront lot is the same size as the one at 5 Via Los Incas and has the same amount of shoreline.
Via Los Incas is named for a storied Palm Beach estate. The original mansion was built on a 6-acre property around 1916, commissioned by John S. Phipps for his father-in-law, shipping magnate Michael Paul Grace. The house originally was known as El Inca and later renamed Los Incas.
Between the 1930s and the ’70s the house known as Los Incas was best known for parties hosted by its owners, actress-turned-socialite Mary Sanford and her husband, carpet heir and polo player Stephen “Laddie” Sanford.
In 1978, attorney Joseph Farish bought the estate from the Sanford Carpet Co. heirs, demolished the three-story, much-renovated mansion and platted the Los Incas subdivision. Farish and Gottfried developed all 10 homes on the street.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call 561-820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call 561-820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Beachside house under contract after asking $76 million in Palm Beach
Reporting by Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News | USA TODAY Network
