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Former governor's candidate Levine among Palm Beach property … – Palm Beach Daily News
Palm Beach developer Todd Michael Glaser and an investor group that includes former state Democratic gubernatorial candidate Philip Levine are behind the company that just paid a recorded $9 million for an oversized property on Palm Beach.
Glaser said he and his investors plan to develop two houses on speculation at the property at 111 Atlantic Ave. on the North End of the island. The property measures three-quarters of an acre with a house on its eastern half and a vacant lot to the west.
The property has a famous neighbor. It’s across the street and catty-corner from the seaside house rocker Jon Bon Jovi bought in March, using an ownership company, for $10 million. Bon Jovi’s house, at 230 N. Ocean Blvd, is on the corner of Atlantic Avenue, two blocks south of Wells Road.
EXCLUSIVE: Jon Bon Jovi pays recorded $10 million for Palm Beach house
Three lots west of the ocean, the property at 111 Atlantic Ave. was sold in an off-market deal by Sandell Corp., a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. Laila Ghandour signed the deed as a director of the company, which has an address in care of the Zielinski & Boyd accounting firm in West Palm Beach.
Sandell Corp. had paid $1.385 million for the property in 1990, according to courthouse records.
Glaser said he hasn’t worked with Levine — a former mayor of Miami Beach — on any other real estate projects. But he has previously partnered with his other two investors in the Atlantic Avenue project, Miami developer Jonathan Fryd and Scott Robins, president and CEO of Scott Robins Cos. in Miami Beach. Robins and Glaser have restored, renovated and built projects together in Miami-Dade County for nearly 30 years, Glaser said.
“When I brought them up here, they got the same feeling that I had about Palm Beach — that it’s beautiful with great opportunities in residential real estate,” Glaser said.
Levine was mayor of Miami Beach from 2013 to 2017. He came in third in the Aug. 28 Democratic primary behind winner and former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham. Gillum is running against Republican nominee U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis in the November governor’s race.
Levine has been involved in a variety of businesses, including media, start-up investments and real estate, according to online biographical sketches.
Fryd, a real estate broker and general contractor, heads Fryd Properties, a real estate management and development firm in Miami Beach.
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Glaser’s investor group used a Florida limited liability company named 111 Atlantic Avenue LLC to buy the property, courthouse records show.
In anticipation of the sale, the seller in July won the town’s approval to demolish the Atlantic Avenue house, which was built in 1979 and has 5,399 total square feet. Plans should be ready for the Architectural Commission’s review in December, he said. A house of about 7,500 square feet is being designed for the east lot, which measures 18,500 square feet, he said. The west lot encompasses 15,500 square feet and the house there is being designed with about 6,000 square feet, Glaser added.
Glaser has been active during the past year on the Palm Beach real estate scene after spending much of his career in real estate development in Miami-Dade County. His most recent project there is the 1000 Museum Tower condominium building in downtown Miami.
Glaser was represented in the sale on Atlantic Avenue by agents A. Whitney McGurk and Liza Pulitzer of Brown Harris Stevens. Agent Tom Shaw of Douglas Elliman represented the seller.
Glaser signed a $4.5 million mortgage with City National Bank of Florida on the property, according to the document recorded today at Palm Beach County courthouse.
In November, one of Glaser’s companies paid just under $11 million for a landmarked 1928 house at 125 Via Del Lago in the Estate Section. Glaser is finishing up a renovation project there that included moving the estate’s driveway to better showcase the view of its rear facade. The house will shortly be listed for sale by McGurk and Pulitzer, said McGurk, who declined further comment.
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Glaser and his wife, Kim, renovated another landmarked property with Art Deco-style architecture on the lake at 1221 N. Lake Way, which they bought for a recorded $5.9 million in August 2017. They use the North End house as a pied-à-terre but have it listed for sale at $9.9 million through McGurk and Pulitzer.
More recently, McGurk and Pulitzer represented Glaser when he bought a house built in 1950 at 244 Nightingale Trail on the North End. Glaser’s ownership company paid Henriette Meran and husband David Baumann $3.1 million for it in April in a deal that saw Sotheby’s International Realty agent Patricia Mahaney on the seller’s end.
Glaser said he planned to renovate the contemporary-style house on Nightingale Trail, which is being considered for landmark designation. But instead, he sold it in an August deal to 244 Nightingale LLC., an Oklahoma-based limited liability company. Agent Gary Pohrer of Douglas Elliman acted for the buyer in that off-market deal.
Glaser also owns commercial property he is planning to redevelop at 301 Southern Blvd. in West Palm Beach.
In the Casa Vera sale, Glaser was represented by Miami Beach real estate agent David Solomon of EWM Realty International. Douglas Elliman agents Harriet Brams and Steve J. Davis had the listing for the seller. On North Lake Way, Burt Minkoff, then of the Corcoran Group but today with Douglas Elliman, was the listing agent.
Bon Jovi bought his home in the quiet beachfront neighborhood from Judith Goldfarb and her late husband, businessman Gene Goldfarb. Broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate handled the buyer’s side of that sale. Broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates had listing. Both brokers have declined to discuss the sale and the parties involved.
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