Editor’s note: This story was updated to include the buyer and reflect a recorded price of $150 million for the sale of 10 Tarpon Isle, as documented by the deed recorded May 20, 2024, by the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office. A previous version of the story reported a $152-million sale price based on a May 17 update of the closed sale in the Palm Beach Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service.
It’s not unusual for prices of transactions recorded at the courthouse to be lower than those reported in the MLS, according to real estate observers. Recorded prices may not include real estate commissions, fees and other costs associated with the transaction.
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Palm Beach's Tarpon Island just sold for an eye-popping recorded price of $150 million, which includes a 1930s-era house the seller has extensively renovated and expanded. The sale, which closed May 17 to an unidentified buyer, was the highest-dollar residential deal in Florida this year, and likely the biggest sale in the country of 2024 so far, the recorded price shows.
First reported by the Palm Beach Daily News, the sale also set a new price record in Palm Beach for a home sold on the Intracoastal Waterway without additional ocean frontage.
The deed shows the buyer to be MCI Properties LLC, a Delaware-registered limited liability company with a mailing address in care of estate-planning attorney Christian D. Curtis of Chaves Perlowitz Luftig in New York City.
The sellers, developer Todd Michael Glaser and an investment group, had last listed the house with a price tag at $187.5 million, down from a high of $218 million.
With prices like those, what makes this property so special? Here are 10 facts about Palm Beach’s only private island.
1. The island is man-made — andmore than 80 years old
The rectangular island in the Intracoastal Waterway west of Palm Beach was created by dredging crews in the 1930s. With a total of about 1,163 feet of waterfront on all four sides, the property measures about 2.3 acres.The property has been known by addresses that include 10 Tarpon Way and 10 Tarpon Isle.
2. How do you get to Tarpon Island?
The gated island can beaccessed only by boat — there are docks on the east and south sides — ora picturesque bridge at the end of Tarpon Way. That short roadintersects with Island Road, the street that leads to the rest of Palm Beach.
3. How about a nice game of tennis under the stars?
Tarpon Isle is one of the few properties in Palm Beach with a lighted tennis court. The town strictly regulates courts and frowns at nighttime illumination. A focal point of the architecture is an octagonal room, rising two stories, that overlooks the tennis court.The room was designed as a place to watch tennis in air-conditioned comfort.
4. When it sold in July 2021, the deal set a lakefront price record
Glaser and his investment group bought theisland for a recorded $85 million in July 2021, marking the first time the property had changed hands since 1998. The 2021 sale set a new price record for a Palm Beach lakefront property without additional oceanfront.
5. The original house’s architecture was by a noted Palm Beach architect
The house that Glaser renovated and expanded was completed in 1939 and designed by noted architect Howard Major, who specialized in the island-colonial architecture. Among his well-known British Colonial-style projects in Palm Beach are the residences of Major Alley near Worth Avenue .
6. Expanding theoriginal house added18,000 square feet
The renovation for Glaser was designed by West Palm Beach architect Roger Janssen of Dailey-Janssen Architects. The plans called for partially demolishing and completely remodeling and expanding the original 12,321-square-foot house. The old house became a guesthouse with ultra-luxury fitness-and-beauty facilities, including a private hair salon. The addition to the west serves as the main residence and has a separate wing for guests. In all, the two-story house today has 11 bedrooms and 28,618 total square feet of living space, inside and out.
7. Tarpon Island looks down the waterway toward Trump's Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach
Windows, patios, loggias, terraces and the dock on the south side of the house afford views straight down the Intracoastal Waterway for a little more than a mile to the Southern Boulevard bridge, past former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club. The views also include houses onEverglades Island to the westand in Palm Beach’s Estate Section to the east.
8. The property has two swimming pools
The main pool stretches 98 feet along the lakefront on the southern side of the house, a position that gives it full sun. That pool has a whirlpool spa at one end and a “cold plunge” pool at the other. A second, smaller pool serves the guesthouse.
9. What else did the buyer get for $150 million?
The main residence has an expansive living area anda loggia with a fireplace, summer kitchen and bar facing the main pool, the well-equipped dock and the water. Other amenities include a paneled library/office and an entertainment room with a fireplace, wine storage, billiards area and movie lounge.Upstairs, the primary bedroom has two oversize marble-appointed bathrooms, while a separate wing houses guest bedrooms to supplement the VIP suites in the guesthouse. There's also a five-car garage.
Real estate agents Suzanne Frisbie of the Corcoran Group and Chris Leavitt of Douglas Elliman Real Estate held the listing for the estate when it sold. Broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate also was involved on the sellers’ side.Agent Margit Brandt of Premier Estate Properties represented the buyer. All of the agents, along with Glaser, have declined to discuss the sale.
10. How many kitchens does the estate have?
There are two kitchens. The main one is open to the family room and breakfast area, where windows look out to the lake. The second kitchen is fully equipped for a private chef or for use by catering staff for parties.
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Darrell Hofheinz is aUSA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tipsabout real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call 561-820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz.
