Palm Beach vacant lot on lake sells for $50 million, exactly what it fetched last year
Having bought a house he plans to renovate, Harvey Cooper Jones has sold a vacant lakefront lot nearby for $50 million, the same price he paid for it more than a year ago on the North End of Palm Beach.
The lot at 940 N. Lake Way measures four-fifths of an acre with wide views of the Intracoastal Waterway across 128 feet of water frontage. The property has water deep enough to accommodate a 130-foot yacht, and the concrete dock has two boat lifts.
Jones — an investor, entrepreneur and avid sailor who has lived in Palm Beach since 2018 — originally planned to build a house on the land he just sold, he previously told the Palm Beach Daily News.
The buyer was a Delaware-registered limited liability company named after the property’s address, the deed recorded May 22 shows. Because of Delaware’s strict corporate privacy laws, no other information about the buyer was immediately available in public records.
The Palm Beach Daily News is the first media outlet to report the sale.
Jones bought the property on North Lake Way in July 2023 for a recorded $50 million and then razed a renovated 1970s-era house that stood on it.
But his plans changed. In March, he paid a recorded $74.25 million for a lakefront house at 740 Hi Mount Road, just around the corner from his home on Ridgeview Drive.
Jones had fully expected to build a custom home on the North Lake Way property — until, that is, the opportunity arose to buy and renovate the 1990s-era house on Hi Mount Road, he said in March. With Mediterranean-style architecture and cascading gardens, the house stands on one of the highest points in Palm Beach.
“I’ve got no regrets,” he previously told the Palm Beach Daily News, describing the North Lake Way lot “as a magnificent property.”
He added: "I was ready to build a new (house), but renovation is more suited to how I operate."
In a brief statement given to the Palm Beach Daily News May 22, Jones declined to discuss specifics of the deal or identify anyone associated with the buyer’s side. But he did say he is sure the buyer will build “a beautiful new home” on the property.
Jones sold the lot on North Lake Way as trustee of a living trust in his name.
The land is the fourth lot north of the Palm Beach Country Club and is separated from the waterway by the Lake Trail bicycle-and-pedestrian path.
Broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate represented the buyer’s side of the sale.
Sotheby’s International Realty agents Todd and Frances Peter listed the lot for sale at $59 million in late November and dropped the price to $55 million in early February. The sale closed May 21, according to the Palm Beach Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service.
The Peters declined to comment about the sale, and Angle could not immediately be reached.
The Peters also represented Jones’ interests when he bought the house on Hi Mount Road from Candida “Candy" Burnap,” the widow of the late venture capitalist Bartlett Burnap. The Burnaps built the house as a custom home.
Jones is managing partner of Square Wave Ventures, a private venture investment firm. His résumé also includes longtime service on the board of Nvidia, a company in Santa Clara, California that designs and sells technology and microchip systems used in artificial-intelligence applications. That company has seen its stock price skyrocket since 2022. Before moving to Palm Beach, Jones had deep ties to California.
The lot on North Lake Way lies a little less than a mile north of the house Jones’ trust owns at 300 Ridgeview Road. He has that home, which he shares with fiancée Robin Gillen, listed as his primary residence in the latest Palm Beach County tax rolls.
He also has a home in Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Jones razed house on Palm Beach lot after buying it in 2023
Jones bought the property on North Lake Way from the estate of the late wine-and-liquor distributor James “Jimmy” V. Tigani II, who had owned it since 2002 through a Delaware-registered company named Century Wines & Spirits Inc.
Tigani shared the since-razed Palm Beach Regency-style house — built in 1974 — with his partner of 26 years, Corcoran Group real estate agent Mark Bennett. Bennett handled the seller’s side when Jones bought the property last year, negotiating opposite the Peters.
The Peters’ sales listing described the lot as being in a “prime location” that provides “the perfect haven for maritime enthusiasts” to build a “dream home,” thanks to its relatively deep water. Such properties are in short supply on the island, not just because of the topography but also owing to the tight inventory for waterfront homes.
The buyer has immediate access to the Lake Trail from the property. Access to the ocean on the opposite side of the island is between Sandpiper and Eden roads.
The house Jones bought on Hi Mount Road has two main floors, a full basement, six bedrooms and 15,487 square feet of living space, inside and out, property records show. The house overlooks about 160 feet of lake frontage with a dock.
Agents Ashley McIntosh and Chris Leavitt of Douglas Elliman Real Estate worked to facilitate the seller’s side of the Hi Mount Road deal, McIntosh previously confirmed to the Palm Beach Daily News.
*
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.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Lake lot in Palm Beach brings $50M, same price as in last year's sale
