In the reclusive and expensive Palm Beach, Florida, one mysterious buyer is reportedly on a mission to acquire hundreds of millions of dollars worth of real estate for what could be America’s priciest “billionaire bunker.”
“This kind of assemblage, it just signals bigger things for South Florida,” OneWorld Properties CEO Peggy Olin told Fox News Digital in reaction.
“We’re going to continue seeing these types of high-net-worth individuals just continuing to make South Florida just extremely elite and a safe place for all of them to gather,” she continued. “It’s the connectivity.”
At the end of June, The Wall Street Journal published an exclusive report that an unidentified buyer had spent around $250 million on four separate properties just north of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.
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This allegedly includes two oceanfront lots and two adjacent homes, sources familiar with the situation told the Journal.
“I haven’t heard specifically that number until it was published, but I know that there are several players touting Palm Beach and trying to make behind-closed-door offers to people in the island who create larger assemblages,” Olin said.
The two beach plots were sold in February by cosmetics heir William Lauder, but the deal wasn’t recorded in public records. The Journal reported that the deal came close to the $200 million asking price, and that the buyer’s agent – Ryan Serhant of SERHANT. – declined to identify his client.
In June, the same buyer purchased an $18 million home across the street via an unsolicited offer, followed by the $30 million house next to it. Agents familiar with the transaction additionally told the Journal that the two homes sold for “significantly” more than market value.
The Wall Street Journal analyzed incorporation records that found the inland properties sold to a Delaware-based limited liability company tied to Seattle-based lawyer Greyson Blue, who works with a law firm connected to the father of Microsoft patriarch Bill Gates.
Blue’s LinkedIn profile also showed he previously worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Neither Blue nor K&L Gates immediately returned Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
“The privacy, lifestyle, tax benefit, all of those are the catalyst that we’re seeing driving activity across [properties] around South Florida. So, I feel that it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the case,” Olin said of Bill Gates potentially being the buyer.
“Like him or Ken Griffin or Jeff Bezos, all of these guys are seeing South Florida as their future,” she added. “To me, it is fantastic… not only in real estate, but all around.”
The almost-anonymous buyer has also tried for more nearby properties – the Journal claims they made an off-market offer for rockstar Jon Bon Jovi’s home next door, but the singer has been reluctant to let go of his house, which he paid $43 million for in 2020.
“They want to remain as private as possible. And I think that what it also tells me is that they want to make sure that no one else is cramping their style,” Olin said. “They want to make sure that they do everything in private so they can get what they want at the end.”
“Palm Beach, in general, is becoming one of the few places in the country where you find the billionaire bunker situation or billionaire’s row, per se. I find that they’re looking at this as more of a long-term strategic investment… When you’re talking about $100 to $250 million dollars, who knows what comes next. It’s just a lot about the caché and the ultra-elite.”
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