A vacant lakefront lot on Palm Beach’s Everglades Island has sold for $39.2 million, the price just recorded with the deed.
The lot was formerly the site of the longtime home of television handyman Bob Vila of “This Old House” fame and his wife, Diana Barrett. About a year ago, they sold the house for a recorded $33 million to a trust. In August 2025, the new owner filed a notice at the Palm Beach County courthouse that the house house would be razed.
The deed for the sale of the empty lot was recorded June 25.
On the east side of Everglades Island, the lot measures four-fifths of an acre with about 175 feet of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway. With a private dock and a boat lift, the property looks directly across the water to the rest of Palm Beach.
The buyer in the the just-closed sale was a Florida limited liability company named after property’s address and managed by West Palm Beach attorney Paul A. Krasker. Krasker could not immediately be reached for comment.
Palm Beach attorney Scott W. Hoffman served as trustee of the trust that sold the lot. The trust was also named after the address of the property. Privacy rules governing trusts cloak the identity of anyone else directly associated with the buyer.
Island Drive runs the length of Everglades Island, an island three-quarters of a mile long in Palm Beach’s Estate Section. Lined with homes on all sides, the manmade island is connected to the rest of town by a short bridge on Island Road.
Listing broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate put the house on the market May 10 with a price tag of $42.9 million, according to the multiple listing service. The sale closed about six weeks later, the MLS shows.
When the house on the lot sold last summer, Angle handled both sides of the deal.
The house that used to stand on the property took much longer to sell than the vacant lot, according to MLS records. The residence was on the market for a little more than 18 months — listed with three different agencies — and sold after the homeowners reduced the price several times.
Angle declined to comment about the sale of the vacant lot. But his listing described it as offering “an extraordinary opportunity to build a custom waterfront dream home in one of Palm Beach’s most desirable locations.”
Agent Suzanne Frisbie of the Corcoran Group represented the buyer. She could not immediately be reached for comment.
The seven-bedroom house that used to stand on the property was built in 1949 but remodeled and expanded by Vila and Barrett. Her late parents, Gioconda and Joseph King, were the former owners, and Barrett bought it in 2005.
Bob Vila Vila, a former chairman of the Palm Beach Architectural Commission, starred in the home-improvement shows “This Old House” and “Restore America with Bob Vila.” He also has his own website, BobVila.com. His wife’s professional résumé includes teaching business and public health at Harvard University.
Vila and Barrett have downsized to a smaller home on the North End, property records show.
Portions of this story appeared previously in the Palm Beach Daily News.
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_Hofheinz. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach vacant lot where Bob Vila’s house once stood fetches $39.2M
Reporting by Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News | USA TODAY Network
