Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene is asking $99 million combined for two side-by-side ocean-to-lake properties he owns immediately north of the Boynton Beach Inlet in Manalapan.
The estates at 4000 and 4020 S. Ocean Blvd. together comprise 3.14 acres.
Greene previously marketed the properties in 2022 for $49.9 million but has since switched real estate agencies. With an asking price nearly double the previous one, the new listing entered the multiple listing service May 14 with the sole address of 4000 S. Ocean Blvd.
Although there are two outdated houses and outbuildings on the lakeside portion of the lots, the estates are being marketed as a single property that could be redeveloped as one estate, Greene told the Palm Beach Daily News on May 15.
Combined, the properties have about 252 feet of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway and another 235 feet of direct beachfront. The coastal road divides each property, as it does at other estates on the south end of the town.
The jump in the asking price reflects the properties’ size and the price escalation that has taken hold in Manalapan over the past few years, Greene said.
“This is the last big piece of land like this,” Greene said. “It’s a really exciting opportunity for someone.”
Agent Margit Brandt of Premier Estate Properties, who holds the listing, echoed her client.
“This is one of only a few lots of this magnitude and in this prime of a location available in South Florida,” Brandt said.
Greene noted that Brandt represented the seller in the recent sale recorded at $105 million for a vacant ocean-to-lake lot of 3.5 acres in Manalapan at 1120 S. Ocean Blvd. That property has about 342 feet waterfront on both sides and lies about a mile-and-a-half north of Greene’s properties.
The new price of his properties is similar, he said, especially because “it’s the same broker for about the same lot. That’s just the market.”
He added: “This may have seemed like a crazy price two or three years ago,” but times have changed. “I always knew Manalapan would catch on, and it has,” he said.
The stepped-up real estate activity in Manalapan was initially sparked when house hunters ripped through the housing inventory in neighboring Palm Beach during the coronavirus pandemic. That sent some of those would-be buyers looking south to Manalapan, where the majority of properties are larger ocean-to-lake properties.
Brandt said the the asking price was in line with comparable properties in the marketplace and “reflects both the historic appreciation in the market and uptick in global demand for Palm Beach and Manalapan since 2022.”
Greene had treated the northernmost house, at 4000 S. Ocean Blvd., as an investment property rented to tenants. It stands on a lot of nearly nine-tenths of an acre. The other house, directly fronting the inlet, is on a larger lot of 2.27 acres, Greene said.
The New York Post first reported that the properties were being offered for sale although the story did not identify the seller and said the land was vacant.
Greene told the Daily News he had envisioned building houses on speculation on the properties with private docks to take advantage of the proximity to the inlet. The area bustles with boats and personal watercraft as well as other activity, thanks to a nearby waterfront park.
He acknowledged that some people might be put off by the location so near the inlet. But for a boat owner, an angler or someone who just likes to watch vessels sail by, the property would be ideal, he said.
Greene lives with his wife, Mei Sze, and their family in a landmarked mansion on South Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach.
Greene’s properties in Manalapan are just down the street from the estate that tech billionaire Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp. bought in June for a recorded $173 million at 2000 S. Ocean Blvd. At the time, the transaction set a Florida price record for a single residential transaction. The bulk of Ellison’s ocean-to-lake estate measures 15.65 acres. But add in the slice of nearby Bird Island in the Intracoastal Waterway and the land totals 22.44 acres, according to property records.
Using a limited liability company, Greene bought the property at 4020 S. Ocean Blvd. in 2015 in a $6.5 million sale authorized by a federal bankruptcy court, records show. He bought the adjacent estate, using a different ownership entity, for a recorded $4.1 million in 2018.
Greene said zoning would allow the buyer to build a home to replace the buildings on the lake side of the land. But a buyer also could build a seaside mansion on the east side of the coastal road, where the bulk of the property lies.
“Probably the best use today would be to build a beautiful oceanfront home,” Greene said.
Whoever buys the property also would have the option of splitting the properties into two more equally sized pieces and developing estates on both.
The six-bedroom house at No. 4020 was built in 1957 and has 11,028 square feet of living space, inside and out, property records show.
The parcel at No. 4000 is a four-bedroom residential compound comprising two structures — one built in 1954 and the other in 1991. In all, the compound has 6,914 total square feet, records show.
Greene has been an active real estate investor in Palm Beach County since moving to Palm Beach from California more than 15 years ago. His recent development projects include two in-construction towers — for residential and office use along with a hotel component — on the north end of downtown West Palm Beach. He also has bought other properties downtown and in other parts of the city.
In addition to his real estate fortune, his business empire includes energy businesses.
His other local ventures include owning the Tideline Ocean Resort & Spa in Palm Beach and founding The Greene School, a private academy with a student body ranging from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade in West Palm Beach.
Greene has an estimated net worth of $9 billion, up from the $5.1 billion fortune he had when he first listed the properties for sale in 2022, according to Forbes.com.
In the $105 million sale of the double lot at 1120 S. Ocean Blvd., Brandt represented the seller opposite broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates, who acted for the buyer.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This is a developing story. Check back for 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_Hofheinz. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Jeff Greene asks $99 million for waterfront property near Palm Beach
Reporting by Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Post
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