The oceanfront property at 1473 N. Ocean Blvd. was just sold for a record $41.5 million, marking the highest-dollar residential private deal in Palm Beach since the recession hit in 2008 and showing positive signs of a recovering real estate market.
The buyer in the private deal was Endigan LLC, an Arizona limited liability company, which would make founder and billionaire of Discount Tire Co., Bruce Halle, the new owner of the property. Halle already owns a Palm Beach oceanfront house down the road at 1075 N. Ocean Blvd.
The beachfront estate at 1473 N. Ocean Blvd., previously owned by longtime Palm Beach residents Gay and Stanley Gaines, measures at 17,804 square feet, spanning across 2 acres and 139 feet of ocean frontage. It includes a main house and a guesthouse. The Gaines originally paid a recorded $6.5 million when they bought the property back in 1998 and has since extensively renovated the main house, including the addition of a master bedroom, according to The Palm Beach Daily News.
As a longtime Republican Party fundraiser, Gay Gaines served as the national chairman of GOPAC for years and used the Gainses property for prominent fundraising events, including one in March for Gov. Rick Scott’s “Let’s Get to Work” political action committee and another in December to raise funds for then-presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, a longtime friend of the couple.