By Christine Davis
On Nov. 1, Douglas Elliman Florida acquired Tauriello & Co. Real Estate Inc., creating its 19th regional office, which will be led by managing broker Ingrid Carlos.
Explaining why Douglas Elliman Florida opted for a Delray Beach office, Carlos pointed to a surge in building out west, as well as the growth of town homes and condos downtown and new developments on the beach.
Delray Beach “is lucrative for consumers from all over the world who come to visit, work and live here. Buyers are coming from all over. People from South Florida keep moving north and Delray is in that path. We are also seeing more international buyers coming into Delray because of the lifestyle minus the congestion. Also, because it has a hometown downtown appeal that international buyers crave as it reminds them of their homes in Canada, Europe, England and South America.”
Tauriello & Co. agents are staying on, as is Sue Tauriello, who said she will continue as a broker/associate in sales.
“I am beyond pleased for myself and my company team to have been chosen by Douglas Elliman to become part of its expansion in the South Florida marketplace,” she said. “This is a company I have long admired and we are all very excited for our clientele to have access to Douglas Elliman’s marketing and branding.”
Delray Beach has consistently shown rapid growth in luxury sales each quarter, said Jay Phillip Parker, CEO of Douglas Elliman’s Florida brokerage. “Sue Tauriello and her incredible firm have been instrumental in the development of the bustling community of Delray Beach. The acquisition of her powerful team, coupled with the expertise and national network of Douglas Elliman, results in a driving force second to none.”
Douglas Elliman now has five county offices, and in Delray Beach, its office is at 900 E. Atlantic Ave.
The Fite Group, founded by David Fite in 2008, announced that it has reached $3 billion in sales. While the firm’s average sales price is $1.4 million, the Fite Group brokered two of the five top sales in Delray Beach in the past nine months: the home at 502 N. Ocean Blvd. for $26.4 million, and the home at 410 N. Ocean Blvd. for $9.15 million. The Fite Group has three offices and 120 agents. Its Delray Beach office is at 648 George Bush Blvd.
On Sept. 30, Randy Ely and Nicholas Malinosky, agents with the Corcoran Group, sold the home at 1046 Melaleuca Road, Delray Beach, for $4.25 million. The asking price was $4.35 million. The buyer was represented by Ashley Michelle Velez, an agent with P.U.R.E. Investments, Miami. The new contemporary-style, four-bedroom residence with 7,100 total square feet was developed by Marc Julien Homes, which received a certificate of title for the property from Florida Capital Bank in February 2014.
Jeffrey Ray, owner/broker of Jeffrey Ray & Associates, Manalapan, represented both the buyer and seller of the Point Manalapan home at 1545 Lands End Road, which closed on Nov. 4. It was a quick sale, Ray said. “The new owners viewed the house 10 days earlier.”
The six-bedroom, 7½-bath home with 7,870 total square feet sold for $6.7 million. According to public records, the seller was 1545 Lands End LLC, with Boris Bonutti listed as title manager. The new owner is Hammon Avenue Trust, which is connected to Carolyn Rafaelian, founder of Alex and Ani.
In October, Jeffrey Ray listed 1340 S. Ocean Blvd. for $43.9 million, “marketing it as a private resort,” he said. On a 2.5-plus-acre lot with 270 feet on the ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway, he sold the house to its current owners, David and Margaret Lumia, in 2008.
“She was on a professional tennis tour at that time, and the first thing they did was put in a fabulous clay tennis court, then they built a 5,306-square-foot tennis house, then a grass court. Then, they took down the original house and put up a 24,000-plus-square-foot house on the ocean,” Ray said.
The couple didn’t intend to build a new house, but David, a retired engineer, started getting involved, Ray said. “It took him five or six years, and when the house was completed, he thought about his sons who are in Idaho and New York, and told me, ‘What am I doing here? This house is too big for the two of us.’”
This unfinished ocean-to-lake custom estate built by Casto Homes at 1040 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan
sold for $29.45 million in November.
Photo provided
In November, an unfinished ocean-to-lake custom estate at 1040 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan changed hands for $29.45 million in an off-market transaction. According to the deed, the PNC Delaware Trust Co., acting as trustee for the Daniel Kloiber Dynasty Trust, sold the house to Whimsical Florida LLC, 2161 Lakeside Drive, Lexington, Ky.
Built by Casto Homes, Juno Beach, the 23,795-square-foot house and guesthouse are on a 2.14-acre lot with 200 feet of beachfront as well as 200 feet fronting the Intracoastal Waterway. In 2008, the property was purchased for $9.23 million.
Christel Silver, broker and owner of Silver International Realty in Delray Beach, is one of 43 appointed by the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches to serve on the 2017 board of directors for Florida Realtors, which constitutes its governing body.
The Young Professionals Committee of the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches raised nearly $14,000 at its fourth annual White Attire Fundraiser, which benefited its Pay It Forward Foundation as well as The Senator Philip D. Lewis Center, an organization that is part of The Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Palm Beach County.
The event was held at The Senada Adzem Team’s listing, at 5678 Vintage Oaks Circle, Delray Beach. The home, owned by the Civog family, is listed for $5.49 million.
Sponsors included All My Sons Moving & Storage, Off Lease Only West Palm Beach, Cornerstone Home Lending Inc., All About Closing Inc., Brightway Insurance Cole Family Agency, WIN Home Inspection Wellington, and Picture It Sold Photography. Also, Kendra Scott, a boutique in Mizner Park, Boca Raton, sold jewelry at the event and donated the proceeds.
Corcoran’s Susan Long (l-r), Ryan Cooper, Sarita Harty and Jennifer Kilpatrick
participated in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer fundraising walk in Boca Raton.
Photo provided
The Corcoran Group sponsored this year’s American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in Boca Raton on Oct. 22. The second-largest fundraising walk in South Florida, it had 23,000 walkers and reached its goal of raising $500,000 for research grants, programs, advocacy and resources.
At the Boca Chamber’s 64th annual celebration in October at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, the chamber welcomed the new chair of its board of directors, Ethel Isaacs Williams, and honored outgoing chairman Jerry Fedele, president and CEO of Boca Raton Regional Hospital. Issacs Williams is director of corporate engagement, diversity and inclusion for NextEra Energy Inc.
The Boca Chamber also introduced seven new board members: Michael Allison, Office Depot; Clara Bennett, Boca Raton Airport Authority; Andrew Duffell, Research Park at Florida Atlantic University; Ahnich Khalid, Maggiano’s Little Italy; Ken Lebersfeld, Capitol Lighting; Keith Sonderling, Gunster; and Bob Tucker, ADT.
Alison Miuccio and Christie Workman have joined the Chamber team. Miuccio is sales and member relations manager; Workman leads the Golden Bell Education Foundation and Young Entrepreneurs Academy.
Toby Davis joined the Katz & Associates team at its new Boca Raton address, 1900 NW Corporate Blvd., East Tower, Suite 450.
Six Palm Beach arts organizations received $75,000 in 2016 from the PNC Foundation’s Arts Alive program, part of a three-year $185,000 commitment PNC announced in November. Recipients were Armory Art Center, Boca Ballet Theatre, Core Ensemble, Palm Beach DramaWorks Ethics Project, Palm Beach Symphony’s Children’s Concerts, and Delray Beach Chorale.
In October, the Friends of Mounts Botanical Garden held its official groundbreaking for Windows on the Floating World: Tropical Wetland Garden, which is funded in part by Boynton Beach resident Margaret Blume as well as The Batchelor Foundation, the Friends of Mounts Botanical Garden and Palm Beach County.
Expected to open in spring 2017, Windows on the Floating World will feature transparent open-grid walkways over wetlands. Within the walks are four “windows” that will be planted with aquatics and changed out with rotating and seasonal exhibits growing from submerged containers.
The display will include waterfalls, an area for wading birds, and a wall covered with bromeliads. Mounts Botanical Garden of Palm Beach County, at 531 N. Military Trail, West Palm Beach, is open Monday to through Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.
Crane’s Beach House Boutique Hotel & Luxury Villas hosted 200 guests in November at its fifth annual Best Bite restaurant competition. For the third year in a row, the winning eatery was Caffe Luna Rosa, which offered its Florida yellowtail snapper with a crab crust, topped with shrimp in a saffron cream sauce. Tim Finnegan’s Irish Pub was the runner-up with its chicken curry, and Pizza Rustica came in third with gourmet pizza bites.
Other contenders were Che!!! with Spanish-style bean empanadas, Papa’s Tapas with traditional Spanish omelets, Patio Delray with garam masala-rubbed ahi tuna seared rare, and Streb’s with ahi tuna and asparagus sesame sake.
The Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative has prepared the city’s Christmas activities and New Year’s Eve celebration. The 100-foot Christmas tree will be at its usual spot at Old School Square on Atlantic Avenue through Jan. 1; Santa will be on hand through Dec. 23, with related activities held at Old School Square Park. The menorah lighting at Old School Square will be 6 p.m. Dec. 24.
Other holiday happenings include a carousel ride, kiddie train, ice-skating and mini-golf, plus the Holiday Boat Parade and the Holiday Parade. The New Year’s Eve Celebration will be 5-9 p.m. at Old School Square Park.
Delray Buick GMC is now the annual automotive sponsor of all major Delray Beach Marketing Cooperative events over the next year, including the lighting of the Christmas tree and Delray Beach’s First Night on New Year’s Eve.
For a complete schedule and list of events and activities, visit www. 100FtChristmasTree.com.
Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.
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