The first of the 14 homes in the Bluewater Cove development sold in March for $4.8 million. Photo provided
By Christine Davis
The 14-home Bluewater Cove development on the north edge of Gulf Stream’s Place Au Soleil has notched its first sale, and at least five more properties are spoken for.
Off the market is 2911 Bluewater Cove, on the north side of the street just past the entrance. County property records show the sale took place on March 13 and was recorded on March 19 with a price of $4.8 million.
“Buyers have moved in and are loving it there,” co-listing agent Linda Lake of Corcoran Group’s Delray Beach office said in an email. The single-story, Bahama-style home has 4 bedrooms, 4½ baths and a 2½-car garage.
Also off the market at Bluewater Cove are both properties on the Intracoastal Waterway. Lake said the two parcels are “under agreement” with construction starting in approximately six months. A new sea wall will be coming soon, she said.
And there are reservation agreements on three dry-lot properties, she said, with clients working with the developer on their interior design selections.
Lake said the model home next door at 2913 Bluewater Cove is being furnished with completion expected in June.
The builders anticipate starting on four new spec homes in late May with completion dates approximately 12 months from the start date, Lake said.
The spec homes already are listed with asking prices of $4.04 million to $4.07 million. Bluewater Cove is to the east of Federal Highway, just north of Gulfstream Boulevard.
Lake and Corcoran colleague Kelley Johnson represented seller Bluewater Cove-Gulf Stream LLC; LoKation agent Alexandria Lopresto represented buyer Augustus Sun LLC of Chelsea, Michigan.
— Steve Plunkett
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Boynton Bay Preservation, part of Related Group, sold Boynton Bay Apartments, 1785 NE Fourth St., Boynton Beach, for $53 million. The buyer is Boynton Bay Apartments LLC, an affiliate of Delray Beach-based Smith & Henzy Advisory Group.
The Boynton Bay Apartments affordable housing community, with 18 two-story buildings comprising 240 apartments, was built on the 21.4-acre site in 1991. It last traded for $48 million in 2022. The Housing Finance Authority of Palm Beach County provided the buyer with a $47.35 million mortgage with an 18-year maturity and a $10.65 million mortgage with a 2.5-year maturity.
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Mikhail Avrutin, owner of the Baltic Hotel Group, which operates hotels in Eastern Europe, and Olga Avrutin Schackler, a marketing executive at L’Oreal, sold their 9,692-square-foot home at 444 E. Alexander Palm Road, Boca Raton, for $28.45 million.
The new owner is a trust named for the address, with Boston attorney Brian Monnich as trustee. In the Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club along the Intracoastal Waterway, this new home was developed by Sarkela Corp. and designed by architect Randall Stofft and Firm D Editors. Adam Elmer Jr. and Marie Mangouta, of Fortune Christie’s International Real Estate’s the Worth Group, represented both the buyer and seller.
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A new spec home on the Intracoastal Waterway at 480 E. Alexander Palm Road in the Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club, Boca Raton, sold for $26.5 million. The seller, represented by David W. Roberts of Royal Palm Properties, was 480 East Alexander Palm Road Trust, with attorney Jay M. Sakalo as trustee. The buyer, represented by Ina Bloom of Compass, is 480 EA Land Trust, with Robert G.W. Laute of New Jersey as trustee. The 8,921-square-foot, six-bedroom home was developed by SRD Building Corp., with P&H
Interiors as the interior designer. The lot was purchased for $7.75 million in 2022.
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G. Robert Sheetz, a member of the family that owns the Sheetz convenience store chain, sold a six-bedroom, 10,673-square-foot home at 415 E. Alexander Palm Road in the Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, Boca Raton, for $25.92 million.
It was purchased by the Source Energy 111 Florida Land Trust, with West Palm Beach attorney Tasha K. Dickinson as trustee. David W. Roberts of Royal Palm Properties brokered the deal.
Built along a canal leading to the Intracoastal Waterway by Gulf Stream-based Wietsma Lippolis Construction, the home features a six-car garage, two reflecting pools, a club room with a bar, a 900-bottle wine room, an infinity-edge pool, an elevator, a firepit, a summer kitchen and a dock.
Sheetz still owns the home at 1992 Royal Palm Way, which is listed as his homestead property.
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Michael Henning Tuchen, the CEO of San Francisco-based facial-recognition company Onfido, and his wife, Sarasina Okiani Tuchen, sold their ocean-to-Intracoastal Waterway home at 973 Hillsboro Mile, Hillsboro Beach, for $18.4 million. The purchaser is Real Estate 1925 Land Trust, with Martina Velez in Hollywood as trustee. Chad Carroll with the Carroll Group at Compass represented the seller in the deal, while Svetlana Izgarsheva with Miami VIP Realty worked with the buyer. The five-bedroom, 10,846-square-foot home features a club room, a golf simulator, a wine cellar, a fitness room, a summer kitchen, a pool and a 70-foot dock with a boat lift. It last traded for $16.59 million in 2021.
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New data from researchers at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University indicates overvalued housing prices in many markets in the country are starting to decline and move toward stabilization.
But South Florida — Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties — remains an area of concern, with housing prices continuing to trend up, as shown in the universities’ Top 100 U.S. Housing Markets monthly index.
Of the top 100 metros measured, “South Florida is exhibiting something that the other housing markets are not,” said Ken H. Johnson, Ph.D., real estate economist in FAU’s College of Business. “Area home prices are rising faster than normal. Over the past several months prices are once again on the path for double-digit annual appreciation.”
This fact is compounded by two additional worries, he added. “Rents are flattening out while home prices are going up and that should not be happening. Flattening or lowering rents favor lower home valuations.
Also, the price-to-rent ratio — that’s the average price of the typical home in an area divided by the annual rent of that property — is very high, favoring renting over ownership, all else equal. When you combine these three things, it makes me worry about home prices in the area.
“Do I think we will have a significant crash? No. But I do expect a correction. It is very likely area prices will experience minimum property price appreciation or even slight price declines in the near future. This slowdown will eventually bring home prices back in line with the area’s long-term pricing trend.
“Something is currently amiss in the South Florida market. Perhaps there are issues with the data — missing transactions or inaccurate rents. But this seems unlikely.”
Johnson believes that rather than buying a home now, it might be better to wait.
“Renting and reinvesting typically outperforms buying and building equity in a home, but not by very much. Thus, it might be wise for families in South Florida to consider renting and reinvesting monies that they would otherwise have invested into homeownership at this point.”
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The exterior of Beach House Gift Boutique has a tropical coastal feel. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
Janet Kysia Nadeau and her husband, Deziel Nadeau, owners of Boynton Beach’s A Pink Princess, a boutique in a pink-painted building that carried toys, dolls and some girls’ apparel, have renovated their 1930s-era building and opened their new business as a coastal-colored retail store, Beach House Gift Boutique.
Located in the same historic building at 1120 S. Federal Highway, their store now carries women’s clothing, shoes and jewelry, as well as tropical gifts and coastal home goods curated by Kysia Nadeau, who is a longtime retailer.
“I have a love for coastal products and I think the women in the area have a need for them,” Kysia Nadeau says.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. For more information, visit https://beachhousegiftboutique.com.
People knew A Pink Princess, which opened in 2000, as “the pink house north of Woolbright,” Kysia Nadeau said.
Earlier businesses at this location, according to Janet DeVries Naughton, past president and archivist of the Boynton Beach Historical Society, included the Lee Manor Inn bed-and-breakfast (circa 1935), a branch of Boca Raton Federal Savings & Loan (1975), and Era United Realty (1990s).
“The three-story building was originally the main dining room for Roland and Elsie Owens’ Depression-era Lee Manor Inn,” DeVries Naughton said. “The expansive property with seasonal rental cottages extended from U.S. 1 to the Intracoastal Waterway and had its own orange grove.
“It was an old-time Florida tourist court and has long served as a landmark in Boynton, with its signature banyan trees. The neighborhood to the east and Colonial Center to the south were all part of the original lush property. Mr. Owens’ daughter, Alice, married Paul Dreher, namesake of the Palm Beach Zoo at Dreher Park.”
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Roomeightstudio.com, an online boutique offering a collection of clothing, jewelry, home accessories and skin care products, has opened its first brick-and-mortar location in a 1,000-square-foot space at 325 NE Second Ave., Delray Beach.
Founder Ashley Catronio’s curated denim collection includes brands such as Citizens of Humanity, Moussy Vintage and Amo.
The Room Eight Studio store also carries jewelry by Zoe Lev, Agent Nateur skin-care products, and Madeworn T-shirts. Pledged to a climate commitment, the store is establishing its own carbon-neutral shipping processes for online orders.
Room Eight Studio is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more info, call 561-908-2448 or visit www.roomeightstudio.com.
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BrandIt Hospitality’s Bounce Sporting Club debuted in Delray Beach in March.
Designed by Garrett Singer Architecture + Design and located at Delray Beach Market, Bounce occupies more than 5,000 square feet, accommodating 300 guests indoors and 100 on its outdoor patio. It is a combination sports bar, restaurant and nightclub.
Executive Chef Sean Olnowich’s menu features a refined twist on modern American cuisine, with dishes like mac-and-cheese bars, local wahoo ceviche, Bounce Smash Burger, and its signature wings, complemented by six house-made sauces.
Bounce Sporting Club is at 33 SE Third Ave. Hours are Monday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. For more info, visit https://bouncesportingclub.com/delray.
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Boca Raton-based Windward Risk Managers, the management company behind Florida Peninsula and Edison insurance companies, launched Ovation Home Insurance Exchange in April.
“Ovation will be greatly beneficial for both homeowners and agents in Florida, by providing new dedicated capital, additional capacity, and coverage options for Floridians at competitive prices,” said Paul Adkins, CEO of Ovation.
The company planned to start selling policies through its existing agents across Florida in the second quarter of 2024. It also plans to participate in Citizens Property Insurance Corp.’s clearinghouse program, which was designed to encourage policyholders to seek coverage from private insurers rather than relying on Citizens for coverage.
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DigitalBridge, a digital infrastructure investment firm, is moving its corporate headquarters with 300 employees, from 750 Park of Commerce Drive, No. 210, Boca Raton, to the Sundy Village campus and has leased a 79,141-square-foot office at 100 SE First Ave., Delray Beach. DigitalBridge’s building is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Send business news to Christine Davis at cdavis9797@gmail.com.
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