A Real-Estate Mystery Unfolds in Palm Beach

In Palm Beach, Fla., just north of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, an intriguing real-estate mystery is unfolding. The components? A swath of prime oceanfront, a rock ’n’ roll legend, a cosmetics titan and a lawyer with ties to one of the world’s richest men.

An unidentified buyer or group of buyers has been quietly assembling one of the most valuable private estates in the country. So far, the buyer has paid roughly $250 million for four separate properties, and is pushing for more, according to people familiar with the situation.

The roughly 3-acre assemblage, on exclusive North Ocean Boulevard, could pave the way for the creation of one of South Florida’s most impressive homes, rivaling those of billionaires like Ken Griffin and Jeff Bezos. The local markets in Palm Beach and Miami have been on an unprecedented upswing since 2020, logging record deal after record deal.

The properties include two oceanfront lots previously owned by billionaire cosmetics heir William Lauder. Lauder, who had initially planned to keep the properties for personal use before changing his mind, listed the parcels for a combined $200 million in 2023. In total, the parcels span about 2.8 acres with 360 feet of direct beach frontage.

The properties sold in February 2025. The deal wasn’t recorded in public records so the exact price isn’t known, but it came close to Lauder’s asking price, according to one of the people. The buyer’s agent, Ryan Serhant of Serhant, declined to identify his client.

In early June, the same deep-pocketed buyer paid $18 million for the Mediterranean-style house across the street. The sellers of the roughly 3,600-square-foot home, retired attorney Thomas Harvey and media executive Cathleen Black, had purchased it for $4.15 million in 2018, property records show. In an email, Harvey said he doesn’t know the true identity of the buyer, who made an unsolicited offer for his house.

Then, earlier this week, the property next to the former Harvey house sold for $30 million to a limited liability company tied to the same buyer. The approximately half-acre property, with a roughly 5,800-square-foot house on it, had last sold for around $5.25 million in 2017. The seller of that property, a trust, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The prices paid for the two houses are significantly higher than their market values, according to local real-estate agents.

The mystery buyer has run into some resistance, however, in the form of the rock star Jon Bon Jovi. The “Livin’ on a Prayer” singer, who lives next door to the former Lauder property, has resisted overtures to sell his property, according to people familiar with the situation. Bon Jovi paid $43 million for his house in 2020, records show. His spokesperson declined to comment on the identity of the would-be buyer.

Incorporation records show the Delaware-based limited liability companies registered to purchase the two inland properties are tied to the Seattle-based lawyer Greyson Blue, who works for K&L Gates, a firm with ties to the father of Bill Gates, the recently divorced billionaire co-founder of Microsoft. Blue previously worked for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, now the Gates Foundation, according to his LinkedIn profile, and is listed as a member of several companies tied to the Gates family. He didn’t respond to requests for comment.

A person close to the Gates Foundation said Gates isn’t the buyer of the Palm Beach properties.

Other possibilities floated by local real-estate agents include the Microsoft-linked billionaires Steve Ballmer and Charles Simonyi. Simonyi is known for his work on some of the company’s most successful software, including Word and Excel. Lauder, Ballmer and Simonyi didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“Two acres directly on the ocean with 360 feet of water frontage, along with the properties across the street, is extremely rare to find in Palm Beach,” said local agent Dana Koch of the Corcoran Group. “We just don’t have these kinds of large properties available for sale. After buying all of these properties at a mind-boggling number, [the buyer] is protecting his investment and affording himself even more privacy.”

Griffin has paid more than $400 million since 2012 to piece together an oceanfront compound in Palm Beach. Bezos has spent about $234 million in Miami.

—Katherine Clarke and E.B. Solomont

SOLD AROUND

MILLION

4 lots, 360 ft. of beachfront