Current ventures include his new condo at Trump Plaza, a whaling captain’s house in Cape Cod, a mid-century renovation in the Caribbean and a green building project in Rwanda. And in the past 20 years, he’s transformed seven properties in the area. “When I finish a project, I just need to keep recreating,” he says.

This means that his two-bedroom, three-bathroom apartment, No. 2-B in the Dunster House at 360 S. Ocean, with 3,200 square feet inside and out and designed by Geoffrey Bradfield, is currently up for sale through Barrett Wells Property Group for $3.49 million.

“After an illness five years ago, I created a bucket list, and the No. 1 thing on it was to simplify, so I wanted to move from my big house on Golfview to an apartment and I wanted to have Jeffrey Bradfield, a dear friend, design a fanciful, luxurious and intimate environment that was a conglomeration of different cultures centered around the Middle East,” Ponton says.

The end result was a design inspired by Morocco, a multicultural oasis known as the “Land of a Thousand Kasbahs.”

The condo, which he bought in 2007, with its high ceilings and white-with-blue color palette, could be a Kasbah. However, far from being a traditional “citadel” or “stronghold,” this gorgeous condominium with its many windows offers pleasant views and ocean breezes.

“The fun thing about this apartment is that everything was created for it,” Ponton says, referring to, well, everything – the Venetian plaster walls, the custom moldings, hand-painted tile, Stark carpeting, lighting, window coverings and furnishings.

Even the ceiling in the entry is an experience – it’s white gold leaf. And over the white Caesarstone floor is a decorative area rug shaped like a palm of a hand holding fish and eye motifs – it welcomes visitors in, while setting the overall design tone. A contemporary painting of a face is almost entirely blue and appears to blend in with the wall. Opposite is a mirrored alcove.

Door openings to the living room and bedroom wing are ogee-archways.

The ceiling in the living room is edged with a custom molding that mimics the design in the carpet as well as the blue edging on the white chenille chairs.

In the seating area are those chairs, with two white couches and Lucite tables. Artwork includes a reverse image of the entry painting. Glass doors, draped with cream curtains edged in blue, open to the terrace that overlooks the pool.

On the north wall are two mirrors framed in ogee arches that echo openings with blue lattice doors to the dining and media rooms. “The doors are an interlocking lattice in French blue,” Ponton points out, “and the white Caesarstone floors will not scratch.”

The media room, fashioned as a Moroccan salon, features tufted wall panels, a bar in a mirrored alcove and banquettes with ottomans in creamy leather.

“The walls are all acoustically done,” Ponton says. “Behind the leather panels are soundproofing and speakers, so it’s all surround sound and then some.”

In addition to the banquette there are two blue-and-white swivel armchairs and antique Moroccan tables and a table stand holding a large Moroccan tray. Covering the windows are wood sliders with open fretwork. “I don’t like curtains,” Ponton explains. “The sliders diffuse the light, but don’t obscure views.”

The rug is in cream with shades of blue in interlocking-pattern repeats.

The dining room features hand-painted tiles designed by Bradfield as wainscot and frames for mirror insets. Again, at the windows are lattice-like sliding screens. The table and chairs are Lucite, a Bradfield trademark, Ponton says.

The white lacquer cabinets in the kitchen were imported from Venice. Other details here include blue Caesarstone countertops, white tile backsplash and white patent leather walls. The appliances include SubZero refrigerator and freezer drawers, Miele range, Gagganeau stainless oven and two Fisher Paykal dishwashing drawers. The laundry and pantry are off the kitchen.

To the north of the foyer are the powder room and bedroom suite. The sitting room has two built-ins, lattice screens covering the windows, and a blue rug with white trim covered with moon and star motifs. It’s furnished with a sofa and Indian chest of drawers. There are also built-in storage-and-display units and a desk behind closet doors.

The bedroom features a white rug with a central blue moon and star motifs. Decorative columns delineate the sleeping area. Integrated into the bed unit are two side tables and a blue mirror above the headboard adds color and depth.

One of the master closets is lined in cedar and in one bathroom, there’s a steam shower with blue-and-white-striped mosaic tiles. The other bathroom has a Jacuzzi tub.

For information, call John Pickett at 301-5266 or KC Pickett at 676-2874.

Bigger is not always better, he says. “I owned Douglas Fairbanks’ and Charlie Chaplin’s homes.”

At one time, Grayhall, a 22,000-square-foot home built in 1909, had been rented by Fairbanks and Chaplin’s 1922-era home comprises 11,000-square feet.

“One house had 39 rooms. If I lost my wallet, it took three days to find it,” he says.

In recent years, he prefers smaller, simpler and less complicated. His other pieds a terre include a condo in the Wilshire Corridor and a hotel suite in Manhattan. The streamlined condo has been called “tony,” he says. “What does that mean? It’s beige-on-beige with chocolate accents and animal skins – a very Art Deco thing.”

And he’s got slipcovers to throw over the hotel furniture. Each is stocked and set up for easy living, as is his West Palm Beach condo.

“I like the unpredictability of my life. Everyplace I‘ve lived has had a sense of freedom,” he says. “I don’t want to fix things and I don’t want to have things. I’ve made ease for my life. You have to, if you’re a bachelor.”

And now his life is especially hectic. He’s on the road playing Georges in La Cage aux Folles, with (at the time of this writing), 19 cities down and 48 more to go by December 2012.

Also, he’s thinking about what his fiancé, Dr. Barbara Sturm, may want in the way of a home, so his condo is offered for sale through Fite Shavell for $925,000, furnished.

“You may not be thinking about it, but the lady you are going with – she’s thinking about it. Every woman wants her own family. I don’t know why my fiancé wants another child, but women think about that.  It’s that whole theory that you are only as healthy as you produce and your sexual vitality is measured by that. And it makes a lot of sense that nature is formed that way. With women, ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it,’ and, for men, if you don’t use it, you’ll lose them.”

So, he says, where a single-family home may not make sense to him, “if I was married, and if that’s what she wanted …”

… he hopes she might choose Palm Beach, a house in the north end, perhaps, but it’s up to her. “I’d consider that, as long as she’s content there. But she looks at Palm Beach as it is. I look at it as it was. When another person is involved, you have to consider what would make her happy.”

In 2008, he bought his West Palm Beach unit to be close to his son, George Thomas, while he was in school at St Ann’s (he’s now at Admiral Farragut Academy).

“I was at a luncheon sitting next to Ivana the day before her wedding and the guy next to me said he lived right across in West Palm Beach.

“My mother said if you lived two blocks from the ocean, you might as well be in Georgia. I laughed.

“But I took a look at a unit in the Waterview Towers, and I thought it had the best view I had ever seen – a view of Palm Beach, The Breakers, the Intracoastal and the ocean, and I thought, that’s interesting. And I was always coming and going and it was ten minutes from the airport. It made sense to me, so I moved in.”

He completely redid the apartment. “I asked Allene Simmons, who has just passed away, for something very Italian modern. She had helped me with other homes.

“It’s a big mistake in any resort to use very heavy decoration. It gets to be a sense of responsibility and I wanted to keep it light with the exterior coming into the interior. The color of the walls is like that of a slightly overcast day.

“It took a year to do and was an enormous undertaking. (With condos) there were rules you have to live by and I thought I was planning the Great Escape, removing one handful of dirt a day.”

The living room is furnished simply with a modern white sofa, upholstered armchair and a deco-style console.

The dining room, with a glass and metal table, is separated from the kitchen by a bar with pull up seating.

Covering the floor are glass tiles. “I didn’t want marble,” he says.

In the kitchen, “I started to realize that all the modern conveniences I like were German or Italian – the coffee maker, the washer an dryer – They’ve put together some interesting stuff. My refrigerator has an area for cooling wine as well,” he adds.

The master bedroom, with an upholstered bed in cocoa with white linens, has glass doors that open to a balcony and offer views of West Palm Beach. The master bathroom has custom tile, a shower with multiple showerheads, an oversized soaking tub and double vanities.

No matter where his next move will be, he’ll always return to Palm Beach, he says. “All my family memories are there. I told somebody recently that while sunbathing on the beach, I woke up and I thought I was 17 years old because things haven’t changed.”

For information, call Doreta Barrett at (561) 632-2621.

“He owned an ironworks company in Chicago.”

Then Heart Mitchell and her daughter Ann Anderson owned it. “They brought over the sculpture of the Greek gods that’s at the north end of the pool. It had been at their home on Via Bellaria, which was later sold to Enid Haupt. Ann and her mother also owned a home in Greenwich, the Castle, which was directly across from Eagle Hill – quite a magnificent place – and they had a home in the south of France. They were well traveled,” Adler says.

After Heart died, Ann and her husband Gordon inherited the house, and then they sold it to the Monks family.

Adler knows all this because Ann was a close friend. “She visited quite frequently until she died a few years ago,” Alder says. “I’ve a photo of her on the piano.”

Following the Monks family, Ralph Levitz bought the house, and, shortly after, he married his decorator, Jackie, Adler recalls. “He had a couple of strokes and didn’t fare well at all and then they sold to us in 1991.

“Jackie vanished after Ralph died. She moved to Mississippi, where they found her red nails and strands of her hair. Thus her disappearance took on deeper meaning. We had a helicopter flying overhead when the news broke. They never found her.”

However colorful the home’s previous history, the time the Alder family has lived there has been happy with many fond memories. “It’s been a wonderful family home,” Adler says.

“The minute I stepped onto the west loggia and saw the levels of gardens, my heart went boom, boom, boom. I was thrilled.

“You could see the ocean and the lake from the living room. I marvel at that.

“It’s a true mar a lago, with sunrises and sunsets and so much light.”

The Adlers’ sons Freddy and Christopher were babies when she and Fred bought the house.

“There’s a service path south of the property, and the kids had a fire truck they could sit in, and they’d roar down the alley way. It was so much fun.

“We had a train set for the boys in the secret garden. You can get lost on this property. There’s a little area outside the sunrooms that has had many incarnations.”

Actually, the Adlers have made lots of changes. They put in three bedrooms, built a back staircase and connected the two wings of the house.

“We gutted the living room and put in a special steel beam to support the new construction upstairs, and we brought over the ceiling from Italy.”

Small rooms to the south of the living room were made into a large library, she says. “We raised the ceiling, bowed the room and put French doors and a terrace out there, where we eat lunch when it’s windy out back.

“We redid everything – the powder rooms, kitchen, laundry and the bowing of the library allowed us to put a terrace above it. We put French doors everywhere. When the doors are open, you feel like you are outside.”

They made lots of changes outside, too. “Prior to us, people didn’t use the yard. We put in the dining terrace, tennis court and a new seawall.”

Its exterior is stucco with a tower and barrel-tile roof. Two sets of stairs lead to the front terrace and the front door, which opens to the foyer and dramatic stairway. Here the floor is marble and the ceiling is vaulted. On the south side of the stair hall is a step down to the sitting room, which has a domed ceiling, built-in display cabinets and French doors with wrought iron grill work.

Off the foyer are an elevator and powder room.

Architectural features in the living room include French doors with wrought iron grills to the east and west, a marble mantel and a decorative ceiling. Off of the living room, a bar connects to the kitchen, breakfast room and the wine cellar. The dining room has decorative crown molding, wainscot, marble floors and French doors to the west and the south that open to the terraces.

Off of the living room, going south is the library and a bedrooms suite.

On the second floor, the master suite features a tray ceiling and the French doors open to balconies that overlook the garden and the ocean.  The walls are covered in a silk moray and the floor is hardwood. The master suite includes closets, marble bathrooms, a library and office.

In the north wing are two bedroom suites and a guest apartment with a sun deck. On the south wing are three bedroom suites with terraces.

Outside, behind the dining terrace are the four-car garage, laundry and gym.

On the grounds are a pool, an orchid house, hidden gardens, formal gardens, fountains, a tennis court and putting green.

The tower can be accessed only by way of the elevator. “When my sons were little boys they didn’t know we had an elevator because I kept it locked. They thought that you got to the tower by ‘helivator.’”

This home is offered for sale through the Corcoran Group for $27 million.

Costa Bella is one of Mizner’s earliest homes, designed for Elizabeth Hope Gammell Slater in 1920, built after the Everglades Club in 1918, and in 1919, his shops and apartments on Worth Avenue, Villa Yalta for Clarence Jones, El Mirasol for Edward T. Stotesbury, the Munn residences, Amado and Louwana, and Mizner’s own home, El Solano.

Elizabeth Hope Gammell was born Nov. 7, 1854, and died Aug. 22, 1944. Her father was Prof. William Gammell. Her grandfather was Robert Ives of the firm Brown and Ives and her mother is described in a New York Times story from 1882 as “reckoned  the richest woman in America,  her property placed at twenty millions or more.”

Elizabeth married John W. Slater ( son of William S. Slater, one of Rhode Island’s leading manufacturers and owner of the manufacturing village of Slaterville) on May 19, 1880. The marriage was on the rocks a couple of years later. Many details about that are in the 1882 New York Times story, but it’s hard to say if the marriage was on or off. Either way, she seems to have been known as Mrs. EHG Slater for the rest of her life.

In the early years of Palm Beach, Mrs. Slater is often mentioned, opening and closing her houses for the season, as well as hosting parties and prominent visitors.

She also built another grand house in 1902, Hopedene, in Newport, Rhode Island, designed by Peabody & Stearns, and, interestingly, it’s presently owned by Palm Beachers Craig and Michele Millard.

She was obviously a mover and a shaker, and her mansion, Bella Costa, ended up being a mover and probably had its fair share of shaking in the process.

Here’s that story: Palm Beach builder, Ed Cury, who bought the Dunbar property in 1999, planned to demolish the house, subdivide the land, and build two spec houses. But, instead, Benjamin and Elys Wohl bought the Mizner home from Cury, turned it 90 degrees, and moved it dozens of yards to the west. Cury later sold his oceanfront piece of the property to builder Bill Elias.

“We’ve always had an appreciation for architecture,” Elys  says.

“We had been looking for a house in Palm Beach, and we saw how many of the old houses were being destroyed. We started to read the demolition applications for ARCOM, and we saw that the Barton house had come up for demolition,” explains Benjamin.

“We drove by to look at it and we were dumbfounded that this house with its significance and architectural details was slated to be demolished.

“We asked Ed Cury if we could save it and move it, and he was happy to oblige,” Benjamin says.

“After we moved the home, we restored it,” Elys adds.

The exterior paint, for example, is its original shade of pink, the color they uncovered after scraping through layers of paint. They tried to determine the original colors inside, as well.

“We felt we were saving a piece of history,” Elys says. “It has a heavy wooden studded door, a chandelier, numerous lighting fixtures, and a gorgeous several-hundred-year-old Tunisian tile floor in the entrance foyer.”

She believes that the plasterwork in the dining room was replicated from photographs of the Alhambra that Mizner had taken during his travels.

In Mizner’s Florida, author and historian Donald W. Curl noted that “Mizner’s detailng included a ‘stalactite’ lighting fixture and Gothic tracery for the dining room ceiling.”

Curl also noted the home’s “massive carved stone staircase,” and that, although more formal than Mizner’s typical work, “the extensive fenestration created an open and light vacation house.”

Descending down that stone staircase is impressive, Benjamin says. The green coral floor and sink in the powder room are unique and he’s never seen anything quite as black as the pure Belgian black marble in the foyer.

Other Miznereque features include the pecky cypress beams in the entry and living room, hardwood floors, tile, wrought iron work, arches, decorative columns and corbels, stone carvings and stone-carved mantels. Another interesting feature in the dining room is the terrazzo floor with thin metal dividers to create a tile effect.

“I can’t help but feel the touch of Addison Mizner, as I walk the marble floors, or when I’m just sitting in the grand ballroom reading a book to my kids,” Benjamin says.

“Having Shabbas dinner in the dining room has been enjoyable, too.”

“We’ve hosted so many guests there. The dining room is so regal, so grand, it makes the food taste better,” Eyls adds.

Now, though, they and their children are renting a 700-year-old home in Jerusalem, and are thinking about finding a permanent home, there.

For information, call Wally Turner at 561-301-2060.

Slater’s Obit
Link to Goggle News Archive search:

More about the villa in Newport, RI, built  in 1897.

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=41.480363&lon=-71.297778&z=16&l=0&m=b&show=/5021821/Hopedene

And on page 39 and 56 of this 1908 Architectural Review:

http://books.google.com/books?id=u_lZAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA39&ots=jZBp9cmxSi&dq=ehg%20slater%20newport&pg=PA39#v=onepage&q=slater&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=u_lZAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA39&ots=jZBp9cmxSi&dq=ehg%20slater%20newport&pg=PA56#v=onepage&q=slater&f=false

It is among the most recognizable houses in Palm Beach, the Maurice Fatio-designed Italian-Romanesque-style house that faces the sea at 920 S. Ocean Blvd.

That’s because when Fatio designed it for its owners — investment banker Mortimer Schiff and his wife, Adele Neustadt Schiff — the society architect gave the 1928 house its distinctive façade that mimicked the red-and-gray horizontal-banding decoration found on some Italian buildings. Instead of marble and terracotta, however, Fatio substituted red brick and coral key stone, and the arrangement resulted in the mansion’s sandwich-inspired nickname: the “ham-and-cheese house.”

It goes by another name, too, the one with which it was christened: Casa Eleda, a moniker that just happens to be “Adele” spelled backward.

Mortimer Schiff died in 1931, and Adele a year later, so the couple didn’t get to enjoy their home for very long.

More than 80 years after it was built, the house today is owned by Charles “Chuck” Becker, who says it has served as a perfect vacation home for his family, which includes his wife, Michelle, and two children still at home — Charles 14, and Elizabeth, 8.

But the family wants to travel more, so the house is listed the house for sale with the Corcoran Group. It’s priced at $22.5 million.

Pristine condition

With 13,171 square feet of living space inside and out, the mansion has nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and three powder rooms. Distinctive features are much in evidence — hand-painted cypress-beamed ceilings, ornately carved stonework, five fireplaces and a 165-foot tunnel under South Ocean Boulevard that leads to the beach, to name only a few.

The Beckers are true longtime snowbirds, planning regular trips to Palm Beach from their home in Grosse Pointe, Mich.

“Before buying this house, I’d bring my boat to Admiral’s Cove in Jupiter. After I sold my business, I started looking for a house in Florida. But when we were in Jupiter, we ended up spending our time in Palm Beach, so we decided to look there,” he says.

He’d placed a couple of offers on other homes, but this one came through — and he says he is glad it did. He bought it in from owner and luxury home builder Robert Fessler, who, in turn, had purchased it from John Kent in 1991.

Before that, the mansion was owned for 10 years by James V. Sullivan, who is today serving a 2006 sentence of life without parole for his role in the murder of his wife, Lita McClinton Sullivan, killed at her suburban Atlanta home in 1987 by a hit man hired by Sullivan.

By the time that Becker bought the house, it was in pristine condition, thanks largely to Fessler’s tenure there.

“I love the house and its layout. Mr. Fessler brought the house back to its original beauty, as well as updating the plumbing and electricity.

“People always comment on the elaborate hand-painted ceilings. The rooms are large and have high ceilings, which give them a grand feeling.”

The beamed ceilings

One enters a foyer on the south side of the house by way of a distinctive front door embellished with carved stone. The foyer features a decorative painted coffered ceiling and a tile-and-coral-keystone floor. A connecting hallway, three steps up, has windows in three coral-keystone arches that offer views of the inner courtyard, pool, fountain and loggias.

To the west of the entry, the dining room features a large fireplace and a highly decorative, hand-painted pitched-and-beamed ceiling. A “breakfast porch” and a butler’s pantry connect the dining room to the kitchen, which has an area for staff dining, a staff bathroom, a pantry and laundry. In the basement below the kitchen are a game room and a temperature-controlled wine room.

To the east of the main entry is one of the home’s two main stair halls. This one has a beamed ceiling painted with geometric designs, French doors that open to the courtyard and a floor of Cuban tiles. Just beyond are two powder rooms with dressing areas as well as the doorway to the tunnel that leads to the beachfront cabana.

In the southeast corner of the house, a library is appointed with knotty-pine paneling, a fireplace and built-in bookcases. Just adjacent is the bar, which has a painted ceiling and decorative wainscoting and hand-painted tiles.

The living room can be accessed through the bar as well as through the north and south stair halls. As in the other rooms, Fatio’s love of painted beamed ceilings is in evidence, this one decorated with geometric designs. The floor is covered in wood planks, and the fireplace features a key stone mantel. On the ocean side, arched windows offer water views; and to the west, French doors — with clerestory windows above them — open to the covered dining loggia and central courtyard.

The guest suites

In the northeast corner of the house on the first floor are two guest bedroom suites and a sitting room off of the north stair hall.

Outside, running the length of the courtyard to the north, is a loggia that invites relaxation, with its bar and large fireplace.

On the second floor’s northeast corner, the master suite includes a bedroom with windows capturing water views and pairs of bathrooms and closets. There’s also a sitting room with a pitched ceiling, herringbone-patterned wood floors and a fireplace with ornate mantel.

In the opposite corner are two second-floor guest suites with fireplaces and a sitting room with a breakfast bar. A balcony connects the master-suite wing with the guest wing and is nicely positioned for sunbathing.

Back on the ground floor, the home has a gym and two offices and a three-car garage in the northwest corner. Above the garage is a staff apartment with a living room, two bedrooms and a bathroom.

User-friendly house

Although the rooms are beautiful — the Beckers worked with Smith Architectural Group on the interiors — it’s the home’s setting that they have especially enjoyed and will remember.

“This house has been a great family home and holiday house. It’s user-friendly,” Charles Becker says. “My older three daughters and five grandkids visit, and actually, one of my daughters was married here a few years ago. We had the ceremony on the ocean, and we ended up having the party in the house and courtyard. We covered the pool with a dance floor.

“We love the pool area and the loggias. We are not really sun-worshippers, but we use the pool a lot, and my wife and her friends and family walk the beach in the mornings.”

For more information about 920 S. Ocean Blvd., call listing agent Jim McCann at 307-1525.

Find this article at:

http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/special-sections/home-loggia/on-the-market-maurice-fatio-chose-red-brick-1423494.html

 

Stephen Mooney's library, a book-lovers' visual delight

The bookcases are handsome, detailed, and although custom, were certainly affordable, he said — I want the name of his fine cabinetry maker!

I love bookshelves, and Stephen Mooney said they don't have to break your budget, either.

The room already had the nice wood floor, but Mooney added wainscotting, giving the room a traditional look, sheer drapery at the windows and good reading lights in intelligent places.

Wow, a reading lamp placed in just the right spot.

He covered the floor with a nice natural-fiber nubby-type rug, overlaid with a zebra skin.

Furnishings are simple, an unpretentious but quality antique desk and chair,

Simple, elegant and pretty

a mini-loveseat for one and comfy armchair with a variety of pillows and let’s not forget the ottoman!

Get back on those shelves, books. I want to put my feet up!

Just last week or so, I saw chairs stacked with books (on purpose), and alas, Stephen already knew about that little trick, and I love that he left the chair, as is.

A chair makes an extra spot to put an overflow of books, or are these Stephen's next reads?

Note the variety of textures, fabric mixes and silver accessories — especially that magnifying glass on the side table for reading that fine print, and is that a stuffed puppy-dog sitting in the armchair? Stephen? Did I get that wrong?

Note the magnifying glass, the variety of textures and fabrics, and the puppy.

]]> http://christineadavis.com/wordpress/palm-beach/i-want-one-of-these/feed/ 0 http://christineadavis.com/wordpress/palm-beach/take-it-up-a-notch/ http://christineadavis.com/wordpress/palm-beach/take-it-up-a-notch/#comments Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:40:20 +0000 Christine http://christineadavis.com/wordpress/?p=694 Yesterday, Palm Beach interior designer Joseph Pubillones was kind enough to allow me to take some before and after photos of one of his projects.

The question was, how can you create the most impact with a smallish budget?

Well, he told me, he had just finished such a project. His client has redone her apartment, and although it was pleasant, it was too “matchy matchy,” and she wasn’t happy with it.

Here's the definition of matchy matchy

With many windows, the unit does catch some lovely Intracoastal views. Furnishings are traditional and nice quality and the green and coral color palette are quite Florida. Pubillones, though, was asked to add some pizazz. So, he added pillows, put a huge floral arrangement on the sideboard, changed out a few accessories, placed a sculpture on the coffee table, and tilted a chair…

Make those colors pop!

He also changed out lampshades.

A taste of wine, and a new crisp, white lampshade!

Interestingly, Pubillones chose to add some pillows in a shade of wine, muting the color scheme, but adding some nice contrast at the same time.

Makes me want to take a closer look at my own home, for sure! I’d get rid of my granny collection of pillows, if I could, but i can’t…they are gifts, and what else would I do? Paint that darn table, for another thing! And would I really be able to add some plants  in those wonderful French wire antiques my mother gave me, and keep them alive? Perhaps I should try…

Jimmy Buffett sells his 1925 Palm Beach mansion at 540 S. Ocean Boulevard for $18.5 million. The priciest sale for 2010, it was not listed, sold to a Delaware company with offices in New York, Via Marina, and was appraised for $23.3 million… we wonder – are his stone parrots that top the gates to his drive included in the deal? And that little duplex that he owns on Root Trail? Renters were told the lease will not be renewed.

A UK business school is opening in Miami. Starting with 30 part-time students, it has plans to grow to 600 students over the next three years…

Green Now’s plans to build a recycling facility in Sunrise were voted down in February by commissioners who said it did not meet city code. It also was protested by residents, who cited traffic congestion, noise and pollution as reasons. Principals of Green Now have filed a lawsuit in an attempt to force the city to reconsider.

And a $6 million plan to expand the Delray Beach retreat center of Opus Dei is being opposed to residents who see that, down the road, it may well end up as a drug rehab center.

So, I see, I have not been the only one protesting.

for single-family homes, could be a good sign

Last January, the harbinger of a slow season, only one home sold in Palm Beach. It was priced for $2 million. This January, two single-family homes sold– for $3 million and $8 million – and nine homes went under contract, generating cautious optimism among local realtors and analysts, along with some misgivings.

“Some weakness still lies ahead for high-end properties, like those in Palm Beach,” said Brad Hunter, director of consulting for national housing data consulting firm, Metrostudy, South Florida Division. “That’s simply because of the poor performance for the economy in general.

“However, the rally in the stock market may provide a boost to the Palm Beach market. There are a lot of mixed indicators — some positive, some negative. But it’s encouraging that there’s a pipeline of pending sales.”

Overall, according to the National Association of Realtors and the Florida Association of Realtors, from December 2008 compared to December 2009, the number of home sales increased nationally (15 percent), for Florida (15.5 percent) and for Palm Beach County (33 percent).

For Palm Beach, on the other hand, the number of single-family home sales went down, from 104 in 2008 to 81 in 2009, according to Leslie Roberts Evans, a Palm Beach attorney who tracks and reports sales of single-family Palm Beach homes and condominiums in his Evans Report Analysis.

“The gains reported [by the Realtor associations] are due partially to the First-Time Homebuyer Credit and partially to the fact that home prices are down drastically because of foreclosures and short sales,” Evans said. “Neither of those applies to home sales in Palm Beach.

“November and December were slow in Palm Beach,” he added. “In January, there was a marked increase in activity, which will reflect an improved first quarter versus last year’s first quarter.” First quarter 2009, he reported, six homes sold in the $2 million to $6 million range.

Scott M. Gordon, an agent with Fite Shavell & Associates, represented the buyer in the first sale in January, an $8 million deal. “This January, compared to last January, it’s like night and day,” he said. “I’m showing every day. On my new listing, 14 people came through in a two-hour period.”

Gordon’s buyer, Campana PB Trust, a Southport, Conn., corporation, purchased 120 Canterbury Lane, owned by Bruce A., James M. and Robert S. Schwartz, represented by Ned Monell of Sotheby’s International Realty. The property, which closed on January 13, was listed for $9.9 million.

“A lot of people have been sitting on the sidelines,” Gordon said. “Now, they don’t think prices are going to go drastically down from here, and they see an upside in the values of properties, which are selling for a lot less even as late as September, 2008. There are a lot of good buys out there.”

January’s second sale, 146 Australian Avenue, owned and listed by Michael J. Flynn, sold on January 28 for $3 million. It was listed for $3.395 million. Michael Montgomery, an agent with Jeffrey A. Cloninger & Associates, Inc., represented the buyers, Patrick and Amber Turner.

“December and January are always slow times,” Jeffrey Cloninger said. “To have that number of sales pending is a great sign.

“We’ll have to see what happens this season, but my gut feeling is that we have hit bottom in Palm Beach. Prices have adjusted and 146 Australian is a good example of that – It was priced right and sold within 12 percent of the asking price. Buyers are pleasantly surprised at the values that are out there.”

Hunter notes that although buyers are not as adamant as they have been about getting a bargain, they are still looking for good value. “I think good value is going to be the watchword for Palm Beach for 2010.”

Jack McCabe, of McCabe Research & Consulting, LLC., is not enthusiastic. “Nine pending — one month does not a trend make,” he said.

He sees that big bonuses on Wall Street will translate to some real estate sales in Palm Beach and notes that some sellers are getting realistic. “Of course, Palm Beach has a mystique and it will always have that,” he adds.

“But this year, I’m predicting that ultra-luxury single-family homes are going to take the largest declines. We will see foreclosures on homes that are more than $750,000. They are over-leveraged and the owners have taken huge financial hits. When arms adjust and monthly payments go from $8,000 to $14,000 a month, they can’t do it and we’ll see price drops of 10 to 15 percent. What was $10 million this year will be $8 million next year.

“There have been a few foreclosures in Palm Beach, and people have been surprised. I think they will be more shocked to see how highly leveraged the property owners are.”

In addition to the foreclosures noted by Franks, RealtyTrac lists 6 more, bringing the total to 19.

“I’ve seen some foreclosures and short sales that you generally don’t see in Palm Beach,” she said. “There were foreclosures in the early 1990s and in the late 1990s when the dot-com era collapsed. There are pockets of times when you see foreclosures in Palm Beach, but generally speaking, you don’t see people having financial difficulties that would result in short sales or foreclosures in Palm Beach.”

The five properties sold include:

1. Short sale: 271 La Puerta Way was bought in April 2006 by 271 La Pueta LLC for $2.8 million. The property sold in September 2009 for $3,550,000.

2. Deed was given back: 264 Country Club Rd. was bought in October 2007 by 264 Country Club LLC for $1,650,000 and the deed was given back to Lydian Private Bank in June 2009 for $1,243,077 in lieu of foreclosure, and then sold in June 2009 for 1,180,000.

3. Auction: 269 Pendleton Avenue was bought in September 2004 for $3,100,000 and sold at auction in February 2009 for $3,550,000. (This house was owned by Thanos Papalexis, who was sentenced to life in jail in September by a British court for the murder of Charalambos Christodoulides,)

This home on Pendleton was sold at auction February 2009

4. Foreclosure: 1431 N. Ocean Way was sold in April 2009 for $900,100 to Waterfall Victoria REO LLC and then sold again in May 2009 for $1.5 million.

5. Foreclosure filed, but sold and auction canceled: 2 Via Las Incas – Richard W. and Marjorie Fuscone sold 2 Via Los Incas for $4,610,000 following a foreclosure action by Northern Trust Bank. The Fuscones bought it for $6,850,000 in January 2003. In February 2009, Northern Trust filed a judgment against the Fuscones scheduling a court-ordered auction for August 6. On July 24, the court cancelled the foreclosure auction.

In addition, homes sales, which numbered five closings in the first quarter, were off to a slow start in Palm Beach this year.

“Sales normally take place in the season, with some that go under contract at that time, closing in May, June or July,” Franks said. “But, this year, that didn’t happen. People weren’t even looking.”

The winter months are considered the height of Palm Beach’s season, when out-of-state “snowbirds” return to their Florida homes.

In the first part of 2009, “people were experiencing financial fears,” Franks said. “Financial institutions and insurance companies had problems and the government had to inject funds to keep them afloat. The stock market had a downturn and people lost money in 401Ks and IRAs. The auto industries had bankruptcy problems – some closed and some, the stocks were worthless – and the government had to intervene with funds.

“The fears were based on what they had lost and they were afraid of what else was going to happen.”

In the first quarter of 2009, 12 homes went under contract, with five closing in that time frame. By the end of the third quarter, according to Franks, there were a total of 48 single-family homes sold, and as of September 30, 427 single-family homes were listed for sale.

“We have not had a normal year since 2002 and 2003,” Franks said. “Last year, 2008, after three quarters, we had 410 homes on the market with 68 sold.”

Here are Frank’s numbers from earlier years for comparison:

2002 – 446 single-family homes were on the market with 112 sales.

2003 – 483 single-family homes on the market with 127 sales.

2004 – 449 single-family homes on the market with 188 sales.

In the first half of 2009, four single-family homes sold for less than the prior sales price, and, through September, three transactions were variations of trades. Franks also saw more financing with a purchase money mortgage.

The majority of this year’s sellers, excluding the foreclosures, were not in trouble, believes Franks. “Some people’s portfolios may have been hit. Others might be selling their second or third home. Some just wanted to move, from the Intracoastal Waterway to the ocean, for example, or downsize or upsize.”

This year’s buyers will reside in their new home, but they were looking for a good investment, Franks found. “In 2005, they were buying to flip, but that’s not who I see buying today. Buyers are looking at lower prices and not bashful in making what they consider realistic offers based on their assumption of what the current market is.

“When the buyer and the seller agree on a purchase price, that makes them the experts on the current market values.”

Franks anticipates an improvement in 4th quarter sales. “Last year, we had very weak seasonal rental activity with most people wanting one- to two-month rentals. This year, there have been many more calls in general and the people are looking for longer periods – 3 to 4 months, which is a more normal market.”