(This story was updated to accurately reflect the most current information.)
Vacant lots that once comprised Rabbit Hill — one of the oldest estates in Palm Beach — have sold for a combined $32 million off Chapel Hill Road in Midtown, three newly recorded deeds show.
And new houses appear destined for the two properties.
As part of the deal, the lots were reconfigured when the buyer of the smaller parcel also bought part of the larger parcel. The result of that transaction created two equally sized lots of about a half-acre each.
Last year, members of the Arnold family demolished the 1891 wood-frame house known as Rabbit Hill and marketed the land as separate lots. The house had been the home of the late retired builder James Young Arnold Jr., who died in April at 100. Rabbit Hill had been his parents’ house before he and his late wife, Roberta, moved there more than 40 years ago.
In the sale of the lots recorded May 13, Frederick Brooks Arnold sold what had been the larger of the two properties in a pair of transactions. In both of those sales, he acted as trustee of a revocable trust in James Arnold Jr.’s name. Addressed at 3 S. Lake Trail, the bulk of the easternmost lot was purchased for $17 million by PEG 425 LLC, a Florida limited liability company linked to Palm Beach homeowner, real estate developer and businessman Philip S. Cambo, who has ties to Massachusetts.
A different trust sold what was originally the smaller lot to the west — addressed only as Chapel Hill Road — for $10 million, a separate deed shows. Acting in his professional capacity for the Arnold family, attorney Michael Pucillo sold that lot as trustee of a land trust created in 1990. Pucillo is a former Palm Beach Town Council member and president.
The new owner of the Chapel Hill lot is Farrell Florida Dev LLC, a Florida entity managed by luxury homebuilder Jack Farrell. His father is Joe Farrell, who is known for building luxury residences in New York’s The Hamptons as well as in South Florida.
In the third transaction involved in the deal, the Farrell-controlled entity paid the Arnold trust a recorded $5 million for a portion of what had been the larger lot, the deed shows.
The properties lie on the south side of Chapel Hill Road cul-de-sac, a little less than a half-mile south of Royal Poinciana Way near the historic Royal Poinciana Chapel.
Before the sale reconfigured the two parcels, the larger lot spanned seven-tenths of an acre, while the adjacent one measured about a third of an acre.
Both lots were listed for sale separately in November, with the larger one priced at $24.25 million, according to the multiple listing service. The smaller property was marketed at $11.75 million. The properties had previously been listed together in April 2025 for $39.95 million, although the asking price dropped shortly afterward to $36.5 million.
Agents Liza Pulitzer and Whitney McGurk of Brown Harris Stevens held the listings.
Agent Chris Deitz of Compass Florida represented the buyers in the sales.
Deits would not identify his clients by name but said the buyer of the easternmost lot — linked by the Palm Beach Daily News to Cambo — planned to build a custom home for his own use.
“He’s going to take his time and build a spectacular house on the street,” Deitz told the Daily News in a May 14 phone interview.
The buyer of the other lot is planning to develop and sell a house there on speculation, Deitz added.
“Both of these are going to be world-class houses,” he said.
Buyers both have real estate experience
Cambo is president of Northern Tree Service in Palmer, Massachusetts, but has been involved in the development and sale of at least three houses in Palm Beach’s North End, property records show.
The most recent of Cambo’s projects was a house at 234 List Road, which sold for $14.65 million in September. He also developed a house at 217 Sandpiper Drive, selling it in May 2021 for a recorded $7.775 million. Another house he developed at 249 Orange Grove Road sold for a recorded $4.49 million in December 2017.
Joe Farrell heads his family businesses, Farrell Building Co. and Farrell Cos. With a home in Manalapan, the wealthy town south of Palm Beach, Farrell in March sold, for $55.5 million, an oceanfront Manalapan mansion he had under renovation as a speculative project at 1140 S. Ocean Blvd. The buyer in that sale was the next-door neighbor, WeatherTech car-accessories founder David McNeil. McNeil ended up demolishing the former Farrell mansion as well his own adjacent home before selling the combined lot in April for a recorded $105 million.
Also in April, Farrell and his family sold a lakefront house they had developed 1422 S.E Atlantic Drive near Manalapan in Lantana for a recorded $17.5 million.
Chapel Hill Road has unusually high elevation
The “hill” in Rabbit Hill’s name refers to the topography of the land, from which Chapel Hill Road also takes its name. The land rises sharply from Cocoanut Row, crests and then gently slopes down toward the Intracoastal Waterway. At one point, the estate comprised all of the property on both sides of Chapel Hill Road and stretched from Cocoanut Row to the Lake Trail pedestrian-and-bicycle path along the waterway.
Because of the hill it sits upon, the lots that just changed hands have an elevation of nearly 17 feet — unusually high for Midtown real estate. A new house on the eastern lot could offer views of The Beakers’ golf course and, in the distance, the resort itself.
“Once you’re on the crest of the hill and see the topography and the potential views, you can see the vision” for the property, co-listing agent McGurk previously told the Palm Beach Daily News.
The properties’ location near shopping and dining venues in the Royal Poinciana Way commercial district, including Royal Poinciana Plaza, was a prime selling point, Pulitzer told the Palm Beach Daily News when the properties were listed for sale.
Properties were once part of larger estate
Razed in early September, Rabbit Hill was built as a family residence by a member of the pioneer Brelsford family on what was, at the time, a much larger parcel of land.
That property was sold in 1901 to Palm Beach railroad-and-hotel magnate Henry M. Flagler, who built his mansion, Whitehall — today the Flagler Museum — nearby. Flager’s successors deeded the house and land in the 1940s to the Arnold family.
Before Arnold Jr. took possession of Rabbit Hill, the house had been the home of his late father, James Y. Arnold Sr. The elder Arnold, in turn, used Arnold Construction Co. to buy it in 1944 from the Florida East Coast Hotel Co., which Flagler had founded.
Although Rabbit Hill was among the first Palm Beach properties to be considered for landmark status in the late 1970s, it was never designated. At the time, Arnold Jr. was seeking approval for a subdivision plan of the property, Town Hall records show, but his proposal did not come to fruition.
The landmark designation would have protected the house from demolition or significant alteration without the permission of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The 2,852-square-foot house was not in prime condition when it was razed, according to several people familiar with the property.
Arnold Jr. was married to his wife for 68 years, until her death in 2014. He worked with his father and uncle in the family construction business and built residential, commercial and infrastructure projects throughout Florida and in South Carolina, according to his obituary.
The oldest landmarked house in Palm Beach is Seagull Cottage, built in 1886. Once owned by Flagler in a different location, the house today is part of the campus of Royal Poinciana Chapel.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Portions of this story appeared previously in the Palm Beach Daily News.
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: UPDATE Vacant lots fetch $32M after historic Palm Beach house razed
Reporting by Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Daily News
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