A $26.5 million price tag: Why this Palm Beach condo is the pricest one ever listed on the island

Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Post
·3 min read
Priced at $26.5 million, a four-bedroom, direct-beachfront penthouse in the east building of the Leverett House development has set a Palm Beach asking-price record for a condominium. Unit E4B is at 110 Sunset Ave.
Priced at $26.5 million, a four-bedroom, direct-beachfront penthouse in the east building of the Leverett House development has set a Palm Beach asking-price record for a condominium. Unit E4B is at 110 Sunset Ave.

So what justifies the — gulp! — $26.5 million price tag of a just-listed beachfront condominium at the Leverett House in Palm Beach? The apartment, to be sold with a poolside cabana, now holds the record as the priciest condo ever listed in town.

In all, the condo has 5,076 square feet of interior space and a 1,300 square-foot wraparound balcony. It was home for years to the late Joy Wolf and her late husband, Erving.

Here are just a few of the many remarkable details that sent the price of the four-bedroom condo soaring.

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The interiors are by Maya Lin, who designed Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.

Sculptor and interior designer Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., oversaw the renovation of the Leverett House's Unit E4B. The condominium was just listed at $26.5 million.
Sculptor and interior designer Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., oversaw the renovation of the Leverett House's Unit E4B. The condominium was just listed at $26.5 million.

Maya Lin, a designer and sculptor, also happens to have been married to Daniel Wolf, the late son of the couple who bought the apartment for $6 million in 2000.

Lin took one look at the walls that divided the main living area but blocked the jaw-dropping ocean views and thought: These gotta go.

Maya Lin
Maya Lin

“The apartment when we first saw it had potentially wonderful views to the water but was partitioned off by a more traditional separation of formal rooms,” she told the Wall Street Journal.

Read more ... about the condo renovation here.

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What interior style did the designer choose for the Palm Beach condo?

As designed by Maya Lin, the floors in Unit E4B at the Leverett House in Palm beach are covered in walnut, while the wood trim is brown elm. The Palm Beach condo was just listed at $26.5 million.
As designed by Maya Lin, the floors in Unit E4B at the Leverett House in Palm beach are covered in walnut, while the wood trim is brown elm. The Palm Beach condo was just listed at $26.5 million.

Lin decorated the interiors with a mix of contemporary furnishings and high-end materials. Corcoran Group real estate agent Dana Koch, who holds the listing with his mother, Paulette Koch, told the Palm Beach Daily News that those who have toured the apartment have been awed, not just by the ocean right outside the windows but by the décor.

“It’s a beautiful, clean, contemporary look,” he said.

Read more ... about Maya Lin's design here.

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What design feature sets the Palm Beach building apart from others?

The balcony of unit E4B on the top floor the east building at the Leverett House development, 110 Sunset Ave. in Palm Beach, captures wide ocean views. Just listed at $26.5 million, the penthouse has set an asking-price record for a condominium in Palm Beach.
The balcony of unit E4B on the top floor the east building at the Leverett House development, 110 Sunset Ave. in Palm Beach, captures wide ocean views. Just listed at $26.5 million, the penthouse has set an asking-price record for a condominium in Palm Beach.

The penthouse is on the top-floor of the four-story midrise, with a wall of windows and glass doors that runs the entire width of the building’s ocean side. And talk about rare: The condo is one of only three condos in the six-unit building with that gasp-at-the-ocean arrangement.

As a result, Dana Koch said, “the views are wide open and panoramic.”

Read more ... about the Leverett House here.

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On the near North End of Palm Beach, the beachfront Leverett House, center, is flanked by condominium buildings at 2 N. Breakers Row on the far left and the Sun & Surf on the far right. A condominium was just listed on the top floor of the east building at the Leverett House for $26.5 million.
On the near North End of Palm Beach, the beachfront Leverett House, center, is flanked by condominium buildings at 2 N. Breakers Row on the far left and the Sun & Surf on the far right. A condominium was just listed on the top floor of the east building at the Leverett House for $26.5 million.

Few condos in the heart of Palm Beach – as opposed to the buildings on so-called “Condo Row” several miles to the south – sit directly on the beach.

That’s because most of the other in-town condos are separated from shore by South Ocean Boulevard. But in the condo at the Leverett House, the beach is immediately accessible – and nothing blocks or detracts from the views.

Read more ... about the Leverett House’s beach site here. 

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This Palm Beach condo is state-of-the-art, in more ways than one

Floor-to-ceiling glass doors open to the balcony at Unit E4B at the Leverett House in Palm Beach, just listed for $26.5 million.
Floor-to-ceiling glass doors open to the balcony at Unit E4B at the Leverett House in Palm Beach, just listed for $26.5 million.

The Wolfs, who owned the apartment, were major collectors of American art. They even endowed a gallery for American works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. 

Yet even with all the glass windows and doors, their apartment was well suited for displaying parts of their collection.

Read more ... about why the condo is an art collector's dream here.

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Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call (561) 820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Real estate: Most expensive condo in Palm Beach designed by Maya Lin

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