Over the years and for a few days at a time, Leonard Zmijewski and his late wife, Diana, would visit Palm Beach. And they grew attached to the island, Zmijewski says.
“My wife wanted us to retire to Palm Beach, and I’m a bit of a real estate investor, so it seemed appropriate to start to buy properties,” he explains.
Accordingly, he has owned properties on Worth Avenue and Atlantic Avenue.
Not quite ready to buy a home to use in retirement, he and his wife found unit No. 3C in the lakefront Il Lugano condominium development at 300 Seminole Avenue and rented it, with the intention to buy the apartment at a later date.
“My wife fell in love with it from the first time she saw it, and Il Lugano is just a phenomenal building,” he says about the boutique condo development built in 2002 at 300 Seminole Ave., about a mile-and-a-half north of Royal Poinciana Way on the near North End.
Diana Zmijewski, however, died before he purchased the condo in 2021. And while it served him well as his residence during the coronavirus pandemic, he today wants to host his grandchildren on visits and wants a single-family home with a yard to better fit his family’s needs.
He has listed the three-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath condo with 2,895 square feet of living space, inside and on its balconies. Broker Linda Olsson of Linda R. Olsson Inc. has the property priced at $12.495 million.
Zmijewski’s condo will be sold with a private one-car garage; an on-site private dock with a 50,000-pound boat lift to accommodate a vessel of up to 44 feet; and a 50-bottle wine locker in the community wine-tasting room.
Zmijewski enters his apartment via an elevator that opens into a private entry, where double doors lead into this foyer. In the living and dining area, floor-to-ceiling window-walls open to balconies and are fitted with impact-resistant glass doors, offering treetop views to the east and south. One of the balconies offers a peek of the Intracoastal Waterway to the west.
The adjoining renovated kitchen is appointed with wood cabinetry, stone counters with waterfall edges, high-end appliances, a breakfast bar and a separate breakfast area.
On the opposite side of the condo are the east-facing main bedroom suite, ensuite library with custom built-in cabinetry and a guest bedroom suite. The powder room and laundry are off the foyer.
The main bedroom suite accesses the east-facing balcony and includes two walk-in closet closets and a renovated bathroom with two sinks, a walk-in shower and a free-standing soaking tub. A doorway from the bathroom opens to a north-facing balcony.
While in overall good condition when Zmijewski bought it, the condo needed some work, he says.
“Really, the apartment had great proportions and nice high ceiling heights to start with. It had a lot of wonderful qualities. It just needed updating, and I wanted it to have more light and look a little bit more modern,” he says.
“I worked with Chicago designer Diane Rostenkowski, who I’ve known for a long time. We didn’t move walls or anything like that, but we did put in new (porcelain) tile and new flooring and changed some of the lighting.”
In addition to the tile, some floors also are covered in wide-plank Belgium oak and others are carpeted. The bathrooms were renovated, and he installed a new air-conditioning system and hot-water heater.
Il Lugano has six floors and 13 units. The building’s amenities include the lobby, a wine-tasting room and a heated pool. Services are provided by door personnel and a full-time manager.
“I’m going to miss my neighbors and the staff,” Leonard says. “The services of the building are just phenomenal. They’ll do anything for you.”
The location on the near North End of the island also is a plus, he says.
“I love that neighborhood,” he adds. “It’s so easy to walk to the restaurants. You’ve got the Meat Market across the street. You’ve got the Polo Room right there. Then if you walk over to the (Royal Poinciana Plaza), you’ve got Sant Ambroeus and Tutto Mare.
“My family loves that when they come here, and realistically, my goal would be to move nearby.”
To see more photos of 3C at 300 Seminole Ave., click on the photo gallery near the top of this page.
For more than 20 years, Christine Davis has written about Palm Beach real estate in the “On the Market” feature in the Palm Beach Daily News.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach condo in boutique development lists at about $12.5 million
Reporting by Christine Davis, Special to Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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