Palm Beach '20s House Priced at $72.5 Million

In the latest in a series of ultrahigh-end Palm Beach listings and sales, a Florida car dealer is asking $72.5 million for a house -- almost three times what he paid in 2003.

 

The recently renovated main house, built circa 1924 and designed by veteran Palm Beach architect Addison Mizner, has nine bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, a movie theater with a ticket window and concession stand, an exercise room, a wine cellar and a private generator: all told, about 30,500 square feet. A pool, large pool house and two three-car garages, each with a second-floor guest apartment, are also included.

 

Records show that Terry Taylor owns the three-acre estate, which has 268 feet on the ocean. Mr. Taylor paid $24.2 million for the property in 2003. He declined to comment. The house has been appraised for $31 million (all appraisals cited here were done in 2007).

 

In April, a contemporary house on five oceanfront acres on Mr. Taylor's street sold for $77.5 million, about twice its appraised value of roughly $40 million. Later this month, Donald Trump's 6.5-acre "Maison de l'Amitie" is set to sell for about $100 million. The property was last appraised at $58.2 million. Finally, a Polynesian-style house on 3.7 acres sold for $68.5 million in a private transaction, a person familiar with the deal says. It was appraised at $37.8 million.

 

None of those houses "have the detail and workmanship of this Mizner," says one of Mr. Taylor's listing agents, Jim McCann, of The Corcoran Group.