Next-door neighbor said to have paid $55.5M for in-the-works house near Palm Beach
As expected, WeatherTech founder and CEO David F. MacNeil is on the buyer's side of a just-closed deal, valued at $55.5 million, involving an under-renovation mansion near Palm Beach. The in-the-works mansion at 1140 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan is next door to an ocean-to-lake property MacNeil already owned through a limited liability company.
The price was reported May 23 in the multiple listing service.
MacNeil is expected to raze the mansion that just changed hands and combine it with his adjacent property, seller Joe Farrell, a luxury homebuilder, previously told the Palm Beach Daily News.
MacNeil could not be immediately reached for comment. But he has made plans to build a new custom home that will straddle both properties, the Palm Beach Daily News has confirmed.
In all, the purchases of the two estates totaled $94 million.
The latest purchase has expanded MacNeil's estate by 1.6 acres to 3.56 acres. It also added an extra 150 feet of frontage on the ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway, booting the total to about 343 feet of waterfront on the east and west sides of his estate.
Farrell had marketed his property with an asking price of $95 million, which would have included the finished mansion he was renovating for resale. But MacNeil, whose other property is immediately to the north, is said to have stepped in to buy Farrell's project while the renovation was still underway. Farrell, a Manalapan resident who heads Farrell Building Co. and Farrell Cos., spoke to the Daily News in March when the property went under contract.
'The person who bought it from me didn't want the house. He's knocking it down,' Farrell said in March
In 2024, MacNeil paid a recorded $38.5 million for his estate next door , which he owns through a limited liability company. He then razed the 1950s-era house there, leaving a vacant lot measuring 1.96 acres.
Both properties lie about a mile north of the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, the luxury hotel that sold last year to billionaire and Manalapan homeowner Larry Ellison for about $277.4 million.
The sale closed May 23, according to the MLS. MacNeil could not be immediately reached for comment.
No deed for the sale had been recorded as of mid-afternoon May 23, so it's unclear if the price reported in the MLS will match the one expected to be documented at the Palm Beach County Courthouse.
Farrell had been renovating the estate at 1140 S. Ocean Blvd. as a speculative project with plans to resell it. He bought the property for a recorded $32.5 million in early 2024.
The costal road separates the two lake parcels of the two estates from their larger oceanfront parcels.
Farrell's work crews had made progress on his extensive renovation of the 1990s-era house and the separate guesthouse by the time the buyer put it under contract on March 11. But with the sale, Farrell is stepping away from the property, he told the Palm Beach Daily News.
Farrell never before had a buyer purchase one of his in-the-works projects with plans to raze it, he said in March. But opportunity knocked and he answered: 'A deal came along and I opted to leave the casino early.'
MacNeil's company has owned the northern property, at 1120 S. Ocean Blvd., since April 2024.
MacNeil founded and owns WeatherTech, which is based in Greater Chicago and manufactures car accessories such as floor mats and cellphone holders as well as other products, the company's website shows. He established the company in 1989.
Premier Estate Properties agent Margit Brandt handled both sides of the sale, although she would not identify her clients by name. She declined to comment about the transaction.
Farrell's renovation plans called for the main house to have 19,000 square feet with a 4,000-square-foot guesthouse. In all there would have been 13 bedrooms. The project changed the architectural style from Mediterranean to contemporary.
Farrell is well known for building luxury homes in the Hamptons on New York's Long Island. He also has carried out real estate projects in South Florida.
When Farrell bought the estate in January 2024, a down-to-the-studs renovation and addition project had been underway for several years. But Farrell said he upgraded those plans.
Farrell had only the shell of the house finished when the property went under contract, he said. His plans for the estate called for two swimming pools with whirlpool spas, a pool cabana with a summer kitchen, a pickleball court and garage parking for eight cars.
Improvements on the west side of the property were designed to include a new lakefront dock and seawall. The mansion's layout would have included a great room, a media room and a den-and-office.
When MacNeil's company bought the northern property at No. 1120 last year, he was represented by agent Tim Elmes of Compass Florida. In that sale, the listing agents were Gary Pohrer and Nick Malinosky of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
Although sales in Manalapan have slowed over the past two years, asking prices for premium properties remain far higher than before the coronavirus pandemic-sparked the real estate boom that arrived in the area in early 2021, real estate observers say.
The boom — and the escalating prices — came, in part, because some homebuyers bought in Manalapan after they couldn't find waterfront estates in Palm Beach, where housing inventory shrank dramatically during the first years of the pandemic. The housing boom also was fueled by the work-at-home trend and Florida's favorable tax climate.
dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com
This is a developing story. Check back for any updates.
Portions of this story appeared previously in 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. Subscribe today to support our journalism.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Neighbor said to have paid $55.5M for tear-down estate near Palm Beach
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