Fashion designer Vera Wang has listed her family's Palm Beach oceanfront mansion for $19 million -- one of a slew of properties she and her brother inherited from their businessman father.
Cheng Ching Wang, who died in 2006 at age 87, emigrated from China after World War II, owned companies with interests in shipping, refineries and pharmaceuticals, and was the sole investor in Ms. Wang's brand. She and her brother, Kenneth, also inherited a house in Southampton, N.Y., property in the wealthy suburb of Pound Ridge, N.Y., and a New York City apartment -- all of which the siblings have sold.
"These are all properties that need to be updated. It's just too much to handle. And I travel a great deal for business," Ms. Wang said. "You can't live in three places at once."
Last year, Ms. Wang paid $23.1 million to the estate for her father's duplex at 740 Park Avenue, whose residents include Blackstone chief Stephen Schwartzman. She and her husband, Arthur Becker, recently sold their former Park Avenue apartment for $33.6 million and have moved to 740. Ms. Wang also bought a vacant parcel on Southampton's Gin Lane from her father's estate and plans a home there.
The one-acre Palm Beach property, which the elder Mr. Wang bought for $4.75 million in 1996, has a pool and 175 feet fronting the ocean. The 11-bedroom mansion -- designed in 1923 by Addison Mizner, who built many Palm Beach estates -- has original coffered hand-painted ceilings. Jim McCann and Geoffrey Thomas of Corcoran Group have the listing.
