Interior designer Ann Downey has sold her home on Everglades Island for $10.9 million. The buyer is Cherry Hill, N.J., millionaire George E. Norcross III, CEO of Commerce National Insurance, a division of Commerce Bancorp.
The deal closed Monday for 601 Island Drive, a one-story five-bedroom Bermuda-style house built in 1954 and revised by architect John Volk. It has 6,142 square feet of living area, with sweeping views of the Intracoastal Waterway. Amenities include a large covered cabana.
Liza Pulitzer, a sales associate with Martha A. Gottfried Inc., had the $11.47 million listing. Rebecca Bruder of The Corcoran Group represented the buyer, who took title through Premier Holding Group LLC. Norcross and his wife, Sandra, also have an oceanfront home in Loveladies, N.J., on Long Beach Island.
Norcross, 50, a member of The Mar-a-Lago Club and Trump International Golf Club, said he asked his friend of 20 years, Donald Trump, for a developer's opinion before he signed the contract.
"I looked at a host of properties. I wanted lakefront and deepwater, and Everglades Island has great views. I took Donald to this house; we walked through three properties. He said it was spectacular, an exquisite location," Norcross said. "At night time, with all the lights, it reminds me of being on a boat approaching Manhattan."
Also a director of Commerce Bancorp, he said buying a house in Palm Beach was "a good excuse," given the bank's rapid expansion in the area. Commerce Bank recently opened six locations in Palm Beach County, including one on Bradley Place. In addition, Norcross said his division is "searching for insurance firms to buy in southern Florida."
This is Norcross' first purchase in Palm Beach, after scouting properties for a year or so. He has been a frequent winter visitor for many years, as a houseguest at Mar-a-Lago, along with friends and fellow tennis buffs Joy and Regis Philbin.
"We love Palm Beach. It has everything you could want within 4 miles of your house: great tennis and golf, the spa, and 10 great restaurants," Norcross said.
"This house has quite a history. It was Frank Sinatra's hangout in the winters before he got married," Norcross said. "Ann Downey has been so kind to my wife and me. She's delightful, a lovely, classy, engaging person."
Downey, a successful designer in New York and Palm Beach, had decorated Sinatra's apartment at the Waldorf Towers. When Sinatra was in town, he stayed with the Downeys — Ann and her late husband, Irish tenor Morton Downey.
Ann Downey created the look for the Poinciana Club when it was resurrected in 1995. At the time, she said the club south of the Royal Poinciana Playhouse should be "informal, fun," bringing back the charm of Palm Beach.
Everglades Island is enjoying a surge of interest. Norcross cited a house on the market for $12.5 million, "and the price was just raised to more than $16 million."
"There's only one Palm Beach. There's no supply [of available homes], and enormous demand. I've already been offered to sell it at a very attractive, quick profit," Norcross said. "But we're very happy. We want this to be a place where we'll spend a considerable amount of time in the future."
He said he has retained architect Gene Lawrence of The Lawrence Group to create some renovation options.
