Palm Beach house's sale price vaults nearly 200% since it last sold new in 2003

Longtime Palm Beach resident Dorothy “Dottie” Alban has sold — for a recorded $10.8 million — the North End house she and her late husband, businessman James C. “Jay” Alban III, bought new 21 years ago at 249 W. Indies Drive.

That’s a jump in value of nearly 200% over the previous transaction.

The Albans paid $3.675 million for their home on West Indies Drive in January 2003, property records show.

The 239 Monterey Land Trust was on the buyer’s side of the sale that closed June 18. Its trustee, attorney Paul A. Krasker, could not be immediately reached for comment. The trust has a mailing address in care of a Park Avenue apartment in New York City, according to the deed. The same trust paid $7.18 million for a Palm Beach property at 239 Monterey Road in March 2021, the year a house there was completed, courthouse records show.

With Regency-inspired architecture, the five-bedroom house on West Indies Drive has 5,462 square feet of living space inside and out.

Dotty Alban and son James C. Alban IV sold the house as personal representatives of the estate of James C. Alban III, the deed shows.

The house was developed and built by Skip Gozzo of Gozzo Estate Homes in Jupiter and completed in 2001. Five blocks south of the Palm Beach Country Club, the midblock lot measures about a third of an acre.

"We fell in love with this place at first sight," Jay Alban III told the Palm Beach Daily News in a 2023 article published about a year before his death at 83.

The exterior of the house features Regency-style architectural elements, including quoins at the corners and columns supporting a pediment over the double front doors. 

Inside, rooms have detailed millwork and moldings. The floorplan includes a formal living room with a fireplace; a bedroom used by the Albans as an office; a formal dining room; and a family room open to the kitchen and breakfast area. Many of the rooms look out to the pool, which has a whirlpool spa. 

On the west side of the house is an attached two-car garage and a bedroom suite that doubles as a pool cabana. 

Listing agents Ashley McIntosh and Chris Leavitt of Douglas Elliman Real Estate had the house priced at $12.75 million when it sold. It had previously been on the market with another agency at a price as high as $16 million. 

Elliman agents Cara McClure and Lisa Wilkinson represented the buyer, the multiple listing service shows. Wilkinson declined to discuss the transaction and also declined comment on behalf of her buyer.

Jay Alban died on March 5 in Amelia Island, where two of his three children live. The Albans other child, James C. Alban IV, and his wife, Garland, own a landmarked house across town on Clarendon Avenue, property records show.

Jay Alban was a former president of Baltimore-based Alban Tractor Co. Inc., his family’s business, where he began working in 1962, according to his obituary. The company specialized in heavy equipment and power systems. 

In 2020, Alban Tractor Co.’s assets were acquired by Carter Machinery of Salem, Virginia. 

The former Alban house on W. Indies Drive has hardwood floors, ceilings at least 12 feet high in some rooms and doors fitted with impact-resistant glass. 

The main bedroom suite features an expansive closet and a marble appointed bathroom with three sinks, a soaking tub and a glassed-in shower. 

The house is the second property to sell on street within a month. In late May, a recently remodeled house built in 1961 sold for a recorded $12.5 million at 257 W. Indies Drive. Jeffrey T. Newton and Marie-Louise Palandjian bought the four-bedroom house and one-bedroom guesthouse, which have with a combined 4,841 square feet of living space, inside and out. The seller of No. 257 was a Delaware-registered limited liability company named after the property’s address. Douglas Elliman Real Estate agent Gary Pohrer had the listing for No. 257, and agent Dragana Connaughton of Sotheby’s International Realty represented the buyer.

The two sales are among a number of sizable real estate deals that have closed in Palm Beach while the summer off-season has been getting underway.

In the 2021 sale at 239 Monterey Road, McClure and Wilkinson represented the buyer opposite their Elliman colleague Michael Costello as listing agent, the MLS shows. The seller in that deal was a Florida limited liability company named 239 Monterey Road LLC, managed by developer Louis J. Capano Jr., according to property records.

This story was updated from a previous version. This 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.