Penthouse deal sets a South End sale-price record on Palm Beach's Condominium Row

A Palm Beach penthouse that set a new South End sale-price record when it sold nearly two years ago has done it again with a deal recorded Monday at $9 million. The condominium at the Palm Beach Hampton fetched the highest price ever for a single-unit South End apartment marketed in the multiple listing service, records show.

With views of the ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway, Penthouse No. 501S and its pool cabana previously sold for $8.5 million in August 2022, courthouse records show. 

The seller had carried out an extensive renovation to upgrade the the apartment “with impeccable luxurious finishes,” according to the Corcoran Group’s sales listing. The penthouse “embodies contemporary design infused with a sophisticated palette of materials sourced from around the world.”

The buyer’s identity is tucked behind a Delaware-registered limited liability company, SFFLH LLC, the deed shows. Because of the state’s strict corporate privacy laws, no other information about the buyer was immediately available in public records. 

Other apartments in Palm Beach have sold for more than the penthouse, but they are in Midtown or the near North End, where condos and co-ops tend to fetch far higher prices. The most expensive condo sale in Palm Beach, for instance, closed in December 2022, when New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft paid $23.75 million for a direct-beachfront residence in Leverett House on the near North End. 

Trust was on the seller's side of condo in the Palm Beach Hampton

On the fifth residential floor of the seven-story building, the three-bedroom apartment at the Palm Beach Hampton has 5,616 square feet of living space inside and on its wraparound balcony. Based on that measurement, the buyer paid $1,602 per square foot. 

The overall sale price barely beat the previous South End record-setter that closed in April 2023. In that deal, a three-bedroom oceanfront condo, No. 308N, and its cabana sold for a recorded $8.95 million at the 2100 Condominium at Sloan’s Curve, 2100 S. Ocean Blvd. The Sloan’s Curve sale also set a South End record for the highest price paid per square foot — $2,352, based on its total measurement of 3,805 square feet.

The Palm Beach Hampton condo that just sold is about a third of a mile south of the bridge to Lake Worth Beach. The apartment has walls of windows and glass doors to showcase the water views. Among its features, the layout includes a great room with living and dining areas, along with a well-equipped kitchen where the work island faces the sea. 

The deed shows the PBH Land Trust was on the seller’s side of the deal, but public records have cloaked the identity of the person or people who actually owned the penthouse. In January 2023, the same trust paid $31.5 million for an oceanfront house at 3565 N. Ocean Blvd. in the barrier-island town of Gulf Stream near Boynton Beach.

City National Bank of Florida serves as trustee of the PBH Land Trust, which sold the penthouse and cabana No. 6, the deed shows. Alex Bahamonde, an estate and wealth adviser at the bank, signed the deed, which lists the trust with an address at an office building on South Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach. Bahamonde did not return a phone message to his office seeking comment.

The trust, however, is also linked to a residence on Skymeadow Road in Stamford, Conn., an address associated in property records with Sherrod B. Krabbe and William M. Krabbe. They also own a home in Wellington, property records show. Neither man could be reached for comment.

The condo that just changed hands is in the southernmost building at the Palm Beach Hampton, which is considered by real estate observers to be among the prime condo developments on the South End’s so-called Condominium Row. Palm Beach Hampton has seen several sales over the past two years documented at more than $7 million, reflecting in part an overall escalation of condo and co-operative prices for apartments south of Sloan’s Curve, especially for renovated units in better-quality buildings.

In the just-recorded condo sale, agent Kourtney Pulitzer of Sotheby’s International Realty represented the buyer. She declined a request for comment.

On the listing side, Corcoran agents Candace Friis and her son, Phil Friis, had the condo priced at $10.4 million when it entered the multiple listing service in early December. They later dropped the price to about $10 million. 

The Friis team represented the same client when the condo was purchased in 2022. The sellers in that deal were Irene Athans and her husband, retired Army Gen. Carter W. Clarke Jr., who had carried out their own renovation of the residence. Athans and Clarke were represented in the 2022 deal by Corcoran agents Paulette Koch and her son, Dana Koch. 

Candace Friis and her son also handled both sides of the Gulf Stream house sale last year. In that deal, entities associated with New Jersey businessman James K. Sausville sold the six-bedroom home — built in 2021 with 7,715 total square feet — to the PBH Land Trust, property records show. 

Candace Friis declined to discuss the sales or her client.

Main bedroom suite has as a 'private relaxation room' with sea views

At the Palm Beach Hampton, the penthouse has an “owner’s suite” with a soaking tub, a private toilet area, a custom-designed walk-in closet and a “private relaxation room with sweeping ocean views,” the sales listing said. 

Two guest suites have west-facing balconies that offer views of the Intracoastal, and the layout also includes a den with a full bath. There are motorized draperies, white-oak floors throughout and high-end plumbing fixtures, the listing said. The condo was sold with garage parking for two cars. 

In the previous South End record-setter at 2100 Condominium at Sloan’s Curve, agent Fern Fodiman of Sotheby’s International Realty acted for the sellers, Richard and Leslye Radutsky. The buyers in that deal were Morton and Judith Simkins, who were represented by agent Thor Brown of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

The 2022 town-wide record-setting sale at the Leverett House saw broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle real estate representing Kraft. His ownership entity bought it from the heirs of the late Joyce "Joy" Wolf, widow of Erving G. Wolf, an oil-and-gas industry entrepreneur.

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.