It’s Christmas in February for Palm Beach real estate brokers enjoying the fruits of another record bonus season on Wall Street. Markets have stayed buoyant even as other sectors of the economy faltered in the face of the pandemic, with companies offering goods and services for our new, stay-at-home lifestyle seeing particular gains.
Scott Shleifer, co-founder of Tiger Global Management’s private-equity unit, set a Palm Beach record yesterday with his purchase of a nine-bedroom, 21,000-square-foot manse for $132 million. The oceanfront home sits on property formerly owned by Donald Trump, was sold fully-furnished, and features an outdoor movie theater.
For a complete tour of the home, visit the gallery of images on Sotheby’s International Reality.
And Shleifer, who appears to have gotten a deal on the $140 million listing price, is not the only deep-pocketed buyer shopping for real estate in paradise.
Hedge funder David Tepper is also in contract on a $73 million Palm Beach home, according to the Wall Street Journal. But the island’s biggest shopper is billionaire Ken Griffin, whose portfolio of Palm Beach properties is valued at over $350 million, including a $99 million estate purchased just over a year ago.
“Shleifer’s partner, Chase Coleman III, made $3 billion in 2020 making him the world’s top hedge fund manager,” an insider tells Avenue. Coleman’s shrewd bets include positions in Peloton and Zoom, which have exploded in value during the pandemic.
His wife is Stephanie Ercklentz who, as the always tactful Daily Mail reminded us yesterday, made a boastful appearance in Born Rich, the 2003 documentary about young, privileged New Yorkers (including Ivanka Trump and Georgina Bloomberg) that still haunts everyone connected with it.
“I’ve never actually dated outside my social background. I guess it’s your compatibility, somebody on your same wavelength, understanding where you came from,” Ercklentz said on camera. “I’m sure I would, but he’d have to understand that I love going shopping somewhere and spending all this money on something.”
In 2019, Coleman was linked to the purchase, through a family trust, of a $17.3 million home on Palm Beach’s Everglades Island. Given Shleifer’s $132 million splurge this week, he’s going to have to upgrade if they want to keep up with the Joneses.
