A Palm Beach couple who rcently sold their landmarked mansion near President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago for more than $40 million have downsized to a house across town on Ridgeview Drive, a newly recorded deed shows.
Investments strategist Philip B. Korsant and his wife, Catherine, just paid $12.69 million for the house at 234 Ridgeview Drive on the North End. They had previously owned Casa Giravento, a 1927 house in the Estate Section, which they sold in early June for a recorded $43.25 million in a deal reported earlier by the Palm Beach Daily News.
The Korsants bought the four-bedroom house on Ridgeview Drive from agricultural businessman Donald R. Whitaker Jr. and his wife, Donna, the deed recorded July 24 shows.
The Whitakers had paid a recorded $3.65 million for the house in 2006, the same year it was built, property records show.
The Mediterranean-style residence has 5,110 square feet of living space, inside and out.
The house stands on a lot measuring about a quarter acre, midway between South County Road and North Lake Way. The property is a block south of the Palm Beach Country Club.
The Korsants bought the house as co-trustees of a revocable trust in the name of Philip Korsant.
Among its selling points, the house has a first-floor primary suite, a recently renovated open-plan kitchen and a “resort-style” backyard with a heated pool and an outdoor kitchen, according to the sales listing. Other features include a two-car garage and a generator. The roof was replaced five years ago.
Agent Suzanne Frisbie of the Corcoran Group handled both sides of the sale, according to the closed listing in the multiple listing service. She listed the house in November at $14.8 million but later dropped the price to $14.15 million.
Frisbie declined to comment on the tranasaction, and her clients could not immediately be reached.
The Whitakers had the house on Ridgeview Drive homesteaded as their primary residence in the latest Palm Beach County tax rolls.
Don Whitaker is president of his family company, Whitaker Distribution Inc., an agricultural pesticide business in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
On the buyers’ side, the Korsants have ties to Connecticut. Philip Korsant is a private investor and a founding member of Long Light Capital, formerly known as Korsant Partners LLP, according to public records. He spent the bulk of his career in publishing and was president and chairman of Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. and Ziff Communications Co. He and his wife also have a family foundation in their names.
The Whitakers have been busy building a house on land measuring two-fifths of an acre at 620 N. Lake Way, about a half-mile away from the house they just sold. Still in construction, the house stands on a lot the couple bought vacant for a recorded $10.25 million in January 2024 at 620 N. Lake Way, property records show.
The Whitakers own the North Lake Way property through a limited liability company. In 2024, Frisbie represented when they bought the lot, with broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate acting for the sellers, businessman Robert Lazarowitz and his ex-wife, Cobey Rapaport.
Frisbie also acted on behalf of the Whitakers when they bought the Ridgeview Drive house 20 years ago, MLS records show. In that sale, the listing agent was the late homebuilder John C. Uznis, who had developed the house through Uznis Development Inc., records show.
The Korsants bought the Ridgeway Drive house using the same trust that had sold their 1920s-era home in the Estate Section at 115 Via La Selva. They had owned that house since 2017.
Designed by noted society architect Maurice Fatio, the Via La Selva estate has eight bedrooms and 12,853 square feet of living space, inside and out, according to the sales listing prepared by the Corcoran Group. The two-story house on Via La Selva also has a third-story tower room that affords views of the ocean across a neighboring property directly to the east.
The buyer on Via La Selva was businessman Thomas J. Swan III, who acted as trustee of a trust in his name.
In the June sale on Via La Selva, Frisbie represented the Korsants, negotiating opposite agent Patricia Mahaney of Sotheby’s International Realty.
The Korsants had owned the house on Via La Selva since 2017. It stands about a mile north of Mar-a-Lago.
This is a developing story. Check back for any updates.
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_Hofhe
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Couple who sold mansion near Mar-a-Lago downsize to Palm Beach house
Reporting by Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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By Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News | USA TODAY Network
