Breakers on the Ocean was purchased by Ocean Properties Ltd last month. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
By Tim Pallesen
The Breakers on the Ocean resort in Delray Beach has been sold for $4,750,000 to the owner of the Delray Beach Marriott.
Ocean Properties Ltd., which owns more than 100 hotels including 38 in Florida, acquired the beach resort at 1875 S. Ocean Blvd. on Feb. 27, according to property records.
“They’re going to keep it the way it is now,” said Randy Ely, the real estate agent who represented Ocean Properties in the transaction. “Down the road they may remodel or build new.”
Breakers on the Ocean was built in the 1950s and purchased in 1973 by Philip and Nance Bernet.
Bernet, who managed it with her son Marty and daughter Mia after her husband died in 1990, said she decided to sell it so she could spend more time with her grandchildren.
“It’s been our little oasis,” she said. “When you’re there, you feel apart from the maddening crowd as you look at that azure ocean.”
The two-acre property has 23 suites, each with a view of the ocean, a kitchen and a living room. A heated swimming pool and putting green are among the amenities.
Ely said the buyer was attracted to it because of its location. “It’s 200 feet on the ocean in Delray. That says it all,” he said.
Ocean Properties is a family-owned company founded by Tom Walsh, who operates it with his five children. It has 6,000 employees with offices in Delray Beach and Portsmouth, N.H.
The company has a history of purchasing historic hotels near the water during sluggish economies.
Ocean Properties also owns the Highland Beach Holiday Inn and Boston’s on the Beach restaurant in Delray Beach.
Bernet will continue to operate her HyMa HyPa dress shop on Atlantic Avenue, which she has owned since 1978. “That’s an easier operation,” she said.
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