A Highland Beach mansion that set a town record when it sold for $40 million in 2022 just changed hands for $50 million, according to a deed recorded May 14 by the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office.
The seller was Nebraska entrepreneur Steve J. Buchanan, who was joined on the document by his wife, Samantha.
In 2021 Steve Buchann sold, for a reported $580 million, his Bucky’s chain of convenience stores to rival Casey’s General Stores, according to published reports.
The eight-bedroom estate — with a main house, a guesthouse and a caretaker’s cottage — has 23,625 square feet of living space, inside and out, records show. The land measures nearly 2 acres with 151 feet of direct beachfront and lies about 1½ miles south of Linton Boulevard. The lot is the largest in Highland Beach, an affluent town on the barrier island just off the coast of Boca Raton.
A Delaware-registered limited liability company named after the property’s address bought the property, the deed shows. Boca Raton attorney Scott A. Elk is listed as the contact for the buyer on the deed.
Citing a confidentiality agreement, Elk said he could not comment about any aspect of the transaction or the parties involved. No other information about the buyer was immediately available in public records.
Buchanan bought the house a little more than two years ago from businessman Bruce Leeds, who simultaneously downsized to a Palm Beach house he bought for just under $10 million at 218 Phipps Plaza, property records show.
Leeds had owned the Highland Beach property since 2011, property records show. The house was completed in 2014.
With Northern European-inspired architecture, the Highland Beach house was designed by Madey Architects New York and built by Mark Timothy Luxury Homes, according to previous reporting by the Palm Beach Daily News. Among its features, the house has a six-car garage and an oceanfront swimming pool and whirlpool spa near an open-air pavilion.
A previous sales listing shows the house has a two-story foyer and living room along with a formal dining room, a club room with space for a billiards table, a family room and a well-equipped kitchen with a butler’s pantry, breakfast area.
Agent Jonathan Postma of Coldwell Banker Realty had the property house listed at $59 million, furnished, but withdrew that listing from the multiple listing service o May 10, records show.
Postma could not be reached for comment.
It’s unclear if any real estate agency acted for the buyer.
Before he sold the Highland Beach house to Steve Buchanan in March 2022, Leeds had it homesteaded as his primary residence in the Palm Beach County tax rolls. Leeds’ professional resume has included tenure as an executive of Global Industrial Co., formerly Systemax. Based in Port Washington, New York, the company has a location in Boca Raton.
As in Palm Beach and points north, the real estate scene in Highland Beach, Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Gulf Stream has seen a steady stream of high-dollar sales over the past few years, the result of what real estate brokers have dubbed the county’s “pandemic property surge.”
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This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call 561-820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Highland Beach estate with link to Palm Beach sells for $50 million
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