So you own a nearly 24,000-square-foot mansion in the Byrd Beach neighborhood of Highland Beach on two acres with 151 feet of beachfront. You don’t want to sell, but people keep making offers.
Then one day, someone makes what Bev Aluise Knight, the owner of Boca Raton based-Ocean Estate Properties, calls “your move-out offer.” It’s $45 million. And you take it.
As Knight—who closed the deal—described it to me Monday, that’s basically what happened with Bruce Leeds. He’s the vice-chairman of Global Industrial Co. He bought the property at 2455 S. Ocean Boulevard—the largest single-family lot in Highland Beach—about a decade ago, tore down the existing house and built a palace.
According to a news release, the three-level home has eight bedrooms, 10 full bathrooms and three half-bathrooms. There are three stone fireplaces—in South Florida?—a theater, a gymnasium and other high-high-end amenities. The roof is made of slate and the driveway is fashioned by cobblestones reclaimed from the streets of Philadelphia. It comes furnished. The buyer’s name is not being disclosed.
Knight calls it the most expensive home sale ever in southern Palm Beach County. The previous record, she said, was for the adjacent property to the north. According to the property appraiser’s website, it went for $34.7 million in February.
Obviously, this is not the typical South Florida property. From what Knight said, however, many homeowners in this area can relate to what happened with Leeds.
“He wasn’t selling,” Knight said, “but he kept getting all these calls. There are big names looking for very-high end places where they can move right in. There’s just so little out there in the way of inventory and the demand is just crazy.”
Knight describes Leeds as “a long-time client.” She sold him the property 11 years ago. Now, it’s a “very unique sellers’ market.” For people of lesser means, however, the question is where to go after selling. Though they might get top dollar for their old home, they find themselves potentially chasing that same scarce inventory for a new one.
“Where do you go?” Knight asked rhetorically. Well, if you’re at the Bruce Leeds level, that’s not a problem. “You go anywhere you want.”
Rental rates climbing as unemployment falls
Speaking of real estate, a report from Avison Young shows that the area’s commercial and industrial markets continue strong. Some rental rates are up 60 percent since 2012. One big reason is job growth. The county’s unemployment rate was 14.7 percent in April 2020, as the region, state and nation shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the rate is 3.5 percent.
MHG eyes Boca Raton for new headquarters
Speaking of jobs, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that Indianapolis-based MHG Hotels is considering a second headquarters in Boca Raton. The company is opening several properties in the area. A spokeswoman said the city has been talking with company officials since the end of 2021. The company would bring up to 25 employees.
Delray to pay Boca Museum to run Cornell
Delray Beach will pay the Boca Raton Museum of Art $125,000 in management fees through September to run the Cornell Museum in Old School Square.
Approval of the agreement is on the agenda for today’s city commission meeting. The agreement is for 18 months, with the option of a three-year renewal after that. The amount of fees for next year would be negotiated by July 30.
Under the agreement, the museum’s “activities shall include programing, commercial operations, collections, exhibitions, fundraising, philanthropic and all other activities in connection with the management and operation of the [Cornell] on behalf of itself and the city.” The museum could strike deals with third parties and would provide quarterly reports to the city.
City Manager Terrence Moore worked out the deal with the museum after Mayor Shelly Petrolia and city commissioners Juli Casale and Shirley Johnson terminated Old Square’s lease of the Cornell and the rest of Old School Square. The city got no bidders after seeking a company to manage the entire complex.
Irvin Lippman is the Boca Raton Museum of Art’s executive director. The museum, he said, has not decided whether to seek money from the community redevelopment agency, as Old School Square received for many years in reimbursement for programming. The management fees were necessary, Lippman said, because the museum is taking over the Cornell in the middle of its budget year.
Lippman said the museum’s recent Machu Picchu exhibition drew 150,000 visitors before closing last month after a five-month run.
In addition, Lippman said, the museum’s membership rose 200 percent. It had declined during the pandemic. “We are quite pleased,” Lippman said. The museum’s next big exhibition is The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop.
Limits on school board meeting comments
Despite many threats to do so, the Legislature took no action to restrict school boards from restricting public comment during their meetings.
The Palm Beach County board had discussed options—some of them problematic—for changing the rules on who can comment and for how long. Board members then chose to wait until the legislative session had ended.
Board chairman Frank Barbieri told me Monday that he will ask his colleagues to consider limiting the number of speakers during workshop meetings. Workshops feature presentations on issues that may come before the board for a vote at regular meetings.
Workshops are scheduled before regular meetings. If the workshops run long, Barbieri said, it can push back the later meeting and inconvenience people who have scheduled their time for items on that agenda.
“If we get 15 or 20 people who want to speak” at a workshop, Barbieri said, the board might have to postpone items so the regular meeting can start on time.
How a fired principal may return to teaching
If the former principal of Spanish River High School wants to teach again in Florida or be an administrator, he will have to take a college-level course on the Holocaust.
William Latson was fired—twice—after emailing a parent in 2019 to say, “Not everyone believes the Holocaust happened.” He added, “I can’t say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event because I am not in a position to do so as a school district employee.” The parent had questioned whether Spanish River had followed state requirements on teaching about the Holocaust.
The school board actually fired Latson, who first had been reassigned, not because of his comments but for not communicating properly during the controversy that his comments generated when The Palm Beach Post published them. His settlement places him on probation with the state for three years and includes other conditions. There is no report that Latson wants to work in Florida. His certificate has expired.
