The real estate market for private homes might be in trouble elsewhere, but not in Manalapan. In September, an ocean-to-Intracoastal Waterway Mediterranean-style home and guesthouse at 820 S. Ocean Blvd. sold for a record-breaking $25.5 million.
That sale marked the highest recorded price paid for a home in Manalapan in as many as 10 years, according to Multiple Listing Services property records and sources knowledgeable with the area’s housing market.
For some perspective, the late Generoso Pope’s home at 1370 S. Ocean Blvd. sold last year for $12 million, but its earlier recorded sale prices were $22,458,406 in 2009; $22.4 million in 2004; and, in 2000, it sold for $27.5 million. This year the home is back on the market for $16.595 million.
And in February 2008, the former Vanderbuilt estate at 1100 S. Ocean was bought at auction for $22 million by its creditor, and then resold for $23.5 million. It had been purchased in mid-2000 for $29.87 million by Randolph Hearst, who died six months later. The home ended up at auction when Hearst’s wife, Veronica, could not maintain it.
Not to be outshone, 820 S. Ocean was also purchased in 2008 for a not-too-shabby $21.225 million, recalled Pascal Liguori of Premiere Estate Properties, who was involved in both of this home’s recent and previous sales.
“Manalapan’s value is undeniable,” he said. “Recent activity indicates that the high-end buyers are perceiving real estate as a good value and are making the decision to purchase.”
Manalapan sales for more than $15 million in the past year include Don King’s former two homes at 900 and 920 S. Ocean Blvd., which were sold as one piece for $15.9 million and an estate home at 1110 S. Ocean for $15 million.
Corcoran Realtor Nicholas Malinoksy agreed that it’s all about buyers recognizing value. He, with partner Randy Ely, has sold four ocean-to-Intracoastal properties and listed three in the past year.
“Large properties with 150 feet on the ocean and the Intracoastal are hard to come by and the size of those lots provide a lot of privacy, which many high-end luxury buyers desire,” Malinosky said.
The custom home at 820 S. Ocean built by the Tri Gran Group was completed in 2007. The new owners at that time added the guesthouse, also built by the Tri Gran Group, Liguori said. The property has 29,152 total square feet, eight bedrooms, 10 bathrooms and three half-baths with amenities including two wine rooms, two pools with spas, a sauna, exercise room, lounge, bar, a 30-by-40-foot loggia, cabana kitchen and a tennis court.
“It is rare to have the combination of magnificent ocean-to-Intracoastal land, classic architecture, quality construction and resort-like amenities,” Liguori said.
“It’s an unbelievable 2.4-acre lot with 225 feet of ocean frontage, which means the house is stretched horizontally along the ocean, so that numerous rooms have spectacular ocean-to-Intracoastal views.
“On the back of the lot, it has 225 feet on the Intracoastal, too, with a lot of boat dockage right there. It’s unusual to have that topography,” Liguori said.
For the discriminating buyer, here are more Manalapan listings: a $35.9 million estate at 1960 S. Ocean, a $19.95 million estate at 860 S. Ocean, an $18.95 million home at 1560 S. Ocean and, for a prospective owner who wants to build, the lot at 1020 S. Ocean is on the market for $16.295 million.
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