12922632475?profile=RESIZE_710xThe Eau Palm Beach sale price was recorded at $277.4 million. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star

By Jane Musgrave

With the purchase of the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, the largest landowner in Manalapan has increased his sizable footprint in the small coastal town, bringing his total holdings to more than $450 million.

12922632071?profile=RESIZE_180x180Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who stunned the real estate world in 2022 by plunking down a record-breaking $173 million for a 15.7-acre estate north of the Boynton Inlet, last month purchased the Forbes Five-Star oceanfront resort for $277.4 million, real estate records show.

Manalapan municipal leaders, whose offices are less than a block from the 7-acre resort, said they were pleased a town resident had purchased its signature property.

“As a resident, I’m sure he has a vested interest in making sure it is a world-class property,” said Assistant Town Manager Eric Marmer.

Mayor John Deese agreed. “I think it’s a very positive thing for the community,” he said. “He was the largest property owner. Now, he’s really the largest property owner.”

Real estate experts had speculated that the sale of the 309-room resort and 42,000-square-foot spa could fetch $1 million a room, or “key” as it is known in the industry.

Jan Freitag, national director for the CoStar Group, which tracks commercial real estate transactions, including hotels, said he would have been surprised if the resort had commanded such a high price.

“One million a key is still rare,” he said. “It’s more like what happens in Miami and New York.”

Since October 2022, only six resorts in Florida have sold for more than $1 million a room, he said. Three were near Miami and three were in the Florida Keys.

The January sale of the 291-room Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne topped the list when it sold for $400 million, nearly $1.4 million a key. It also has 188 hotel condo units.

12922639054?profile=RESIZE_710xBut that sale didn’t eclipse the December 2022 sale of a resort on Little Torch Key, which can only be reached by boat or seaplane. The $54.6 million purchase price meant each of the 30 suites at Little Palm Island Resort & Spa sold for $1.8 million.

The purchase price of the Eau Palm Beach, at nearly $900,000 a room, “matches expectations,” Freitag said.

The sale was announced cryptically when the London-based owner, the Lewis Trust Group, ran a full-page ad in The Palm Beach Post on Aug. 8, thanking those who had helped make the hotel a success.

“As Eau Palm Beach acquires new owners, we know you will continue to build on the legacy we created together,” the Lewis family wrote.

Later in the day, the group announced Ellison had bought the resort. Property records show the sale also included a roughly 3-acre triangular-shaped parking lot at 499 Greynolds Circle, south of Hypoluxo Road in Lantana.

In 2022, when Ellison purchased the former Ziff estate from Netscape co-founder Jim Clark, he notched the most expensive home purchase in state history.  At the end of July, Ellison’s net worth was estimated at $173 billion by Forbes, making him the fifth- richest person in the world.

In the news release, Lewis family members and hotel general manager Tim Nardi noted that Ellison is no stranger to the hotel business.

The Eau Palm Beach will be part of a portfolio that includes Four Seasons Resort Lanai, Sensei Lanai, Nobu Ryokan Malibu, Nobu Hotel Palo Alto, Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe, and

Sensei Porcupine Creek. A longtime California resident, the 80-year-old Ellison moved to the Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2020 and owns 98% of it.

“Ellison’s extensive experience in luxury hospitality brings a new level of innovation to the resort and we are confident that his transition will not only enhance the unique experiences we offer but also introduce new amenities and services,” Nardi said in a statement.

While no specifics were offered, the release said that Ellison plans to upgrade the hotel, which most recently underwent a face-lift in 2023 when it was painted pale yellow with teal and gray trim. A year earlier, the Lewis family spent $25 million on an interior renovation, saying more work was planned in 2025.

The family has talked about selling the resort for several years. The Lewises put it on the market in February 2019. When no qualified buyers surfaced, they canceled the planned sale less than three months later.

The land has been home to a hotel since La Coquille Club was built in the 1950s and became a playground for the rich and influential, including the Vanderbilt, Ford and Rockefeller families. It was razed in the 1980s.

The late shopping center magnate Mel Simon redeveloped the site, with the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach opening its doors in the early 1990s. The Lewis family purchased it in 2003.

Ten years later, it was rebranded as Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, taking its name from the French word for water. 

“Our family feels privileged to have been a successful part of the Eau Palm Beach story,” said Simon Lewis, principal of the Lewis Trust Group. “Though we are sorry to bring our tenure to a close, we are gratified in knowing that Larry Ellison will treasure the resort and guide its hoteliers to even greater heights.”

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