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Editorial Commentary
PW : Some do better than others
Victor Vargas, a Venezuelan banker (BOD Bank President), a collaborator of the Bolivarian Revolution of the poor, does very well indeed.
Victor just got himself a new $70 million home in Palm Beach million, thanks to, well I told you about those venezuelan bonds, they go a long way.
Hey!, Chavez, how about your banking nationalization?
Viva the Robvolution!
Brookings's Thornton And Banker Vargas Set
Big Palm Beach Deals
By CHRISTINA S.N. LEWIS
April 18, 2008; Page W10Two of the most expensive deals in U.S. residential real estate have taken place in Palm Beach, Fla.
On Tuesday, John Thornton, chairman of the Washington think tank Brookings Institution, paid $81.5 million to acquire the mansion of movie producer Sidney Kimmel. Mr. Thornton, a former president of Goldman Sachs, paid the full asking price, and the house spent less than a month on the market.
Vera Wang House
Also recently, Venezuelan banker Victor Vargas went into contract to buy the home of George Lindemann for about $70 million. Mr. Vargas, president of Banco Occidental de Descuento, owns a fleet of homes, including another in Palm Beach, along with jets and yachts. His bank has profited from Venezuela's oil-rich economy. Mr. Vargas couldn't be reached for comment. Both purchases were reported by the Palm Beach Daily News.Mr. Lindemann -- a noted art collector who made a fortune in the contact-lens, media and natural-gas industries -- paid $13.1 million for the 3.7-acre property in 1997 and hired architect Peter Marino to design a 32,000-square-foot Polynesian-style mansion. In turn, Mr. Lindemann is paying close to $30 million for a larger property on the north end of the island. Broker Lawrence Moens represented Mr. Lindemann in both transactions.
As for the Thornton deal, seller Mr. Kimmel, now 80, paid $5.5 million in 1993 for the property's five oceanfront acres and spent five years building a 30,000-square-foot villa with massive retractable glass wall panels and a Murano glass-tiled outdoor pool.
Other recent transactions also suggest ongoing strength in the high-end Palm Beach market. The estate of the late dealmaker Howard Gittis sold for $22.45 million, just 4.5% under the $23.5 million it was listed for earlier this year. The 1950s house comes with 156 feet of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway and a dock with an electric lift that can take a boat of up to 30 feet. (The associate of takeover specialist Ronald Perelman died in September.)
Vera Wang House
Another Palm Beach deal involves family property of fashion designer Vera Wang. That house, recently listed for $19 million, went to contract after only a month on the market. It has a pool and was designed by Palm Beach architect Addison Mizner. Ms. Wang has been selling off the real estate of her late father, entrepreneur Cheng Ching Wang, including properties in the Hamptons and Manhattan. She also bought a Park Avenue duplex from her father's estate for $23.1 million.Corcoran Group's Paulette and Dana Koch represented the Kimmel and Gittis houses. Corcoran's Jim McCann and Geoffrey Thomas had the Wang listing.
Former Citigroup CEO, Prince, Reduces Price
With sales tumbling in the wealthy New York suburb of Greenwich, Conn., former Citigroup chief executive Charles Prince trimmed 5% off the asking price on his 2.3-acre home three months after he listed it.
Charles Prince House
Mr. Prince is asking $5.85 million for the 1987 house, originally listed for $6.15 million. Located in the town's midcountry area, the Tudor-style, 6,200-square-foot home has a pool and five bedrooms and a recently built exercise room and sauna. Mr. Prince, who bought the house in 1998, resigned from the banking giant late last year amid an avalanche of mortgage-related losses. He couldn't be reached for comment. Tom Gorin of Cleveland, Duble & Arnold has the listing.In Greenwich, a bedroom community for Wall Street and a hedge-fund capital, single-family home sales fell 30% in January and February from the 2007 period, to its lowest levels for those months in at least five years, according to searchGreenwich.net, which tracks the local market.
Write to Christina S.N. Lewis at christina.lewis@wsj.com
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Petroleumworld News 04/21/08
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