Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Plans Would Add 4 Acres to Palm Beach Estate

 

The house billionaire Ken Griffin wants to build at his South End estate off Blossom Way would have an elaborate pool area, seen in this preliminary architectural and landscape rendering. Rendering courtesy Town of Palm Beach.
By Darrell Hofheinz

Chicago hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin has finally given the town more details about the oceanfront house he wants to build at his South End property — and those plans hinge on him acquiring a 4-acre estate immediately south of the 9 acres he already owns on Blossom Way, the architectural drawings show.

 

The estate next door at 1290 S. Ocean Blvd. is home to Virginia homebuilder Paul C. Saville and his wife, Linda J. Saville, and has not yet changed hands, according to deeds recorded by the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office. With 290 feet of beachfront, the Savilles’ house is not for sale in the Palm Beach Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service.

 

Built in 1991, the residence would be razed to accommodate a portion of Griffin’s proposed contemporary-style house on the stretch of road often called Billionaires Row, according to a proposed site plan recently submitted to the town.

 

Griffin’s acquisition would bring his total beachfront to about 865 feet, and his total acreage to about 13.47 acres, according to county property records. That would place the property among the largest residential estates in Palm Beach, rivaling Nelson Peltz’s 13.07-acre Montsorrel on the North End.

 

In late June, Griffin’s ownership company took out two 30-year mortgages on the estate — totaling $114 million — with lender JPMorgan Chase on the property. The larger of those was a $101.25 million mortgage with language stipulating that construction on the new house would begin “on or around March 2017.”

 

A spokesman for Griffin declined to comment, and a message left for Paul Saville at his office was not returned.

The Savilles are linked to a revocable trust that paid $32 million for the estate in 2005, records show. The property has been assigned a “total market value” of $56.26 million by the county property appraiser’s office but is likely worth more in today’s market, real estate observers say.

 

The plans for Griffin’s proposed house are expected to be reviewed by the Architectural Commission Aug. 24, although Griffin could ask for a deferral. The board also will be asked to grant permission for the demolition of the Savilles’ house, according to paperwork accompanying the plans. If granted, that permission would be good for a year and then could be renewed, according to town rules.

 

The house Griffin wants to build was designed by Atelier Ugo Sap, a California architectural firm. Architect Jeffery Smith of Palm Beach-based Smith Architectural Group is the local architect of record. Smith declined to comment about the project.

 

Drawings depict a long one-story house with facades that appear mostly comprised of narrow floor-to-ceiling glass windows on the east and west sides. With limited ornamentation, the house also appears to be seldom deeper than one or two rooms. In all, the residence would have 33,512 square feet on the main floor with another 23,311 square feet in the basement, according to the drawings filed with the town July 25.

 

The Blossom Way subdivision is about a quarter-mile south of the Southern Boulevard traffic circle. It stretches across South Ocean Boulevard from the lake to the sea, but Griffin’s estate is contained on the east side.

 

Property records show that the house at 1290 S. Ocean Blvd. is homesteaded in Linda Saville’s name. With its six bedrooms, guesthouse and 22,929 total square feet, it is owned by a 2004 revocable trust named after the property’s address, property records show. Her husband is CEO of NVR Inc., a company with home-building and mortgage-banking divisions. Those companies operate in 14 states, according to NVR’s website.

 

In December 2012, Griffin, who heads the Chicago-based Citadel hedge fund, paid nearly $130 million — using two ownership companies — for nearly 8 acres at 20, 30, 40 and 50 Blossom Way. The purchases included three houses — two directly on the ocean — on the the cul-de-sac, which anchors the Blossom Estate subdivision. The sales marked Palm Beach’s largest simultaneous residential deal involving a single buyer and multiple sellers.

 

In June 2015, Griffin added a non-adjacent house on a 1.45-acre lot at No. 70 for a recorded $15.25 million.

 

The Savilles’ trust bought their residence from financier Bernard Marden and his wife, Charlotte “Chris” Marden, according to MLS records. The house was described in previous sales listings as having a library, four staff apartments and two loggias among its amenities.

 

Forbes recently estimated Griffin’s net worth at $7.6 billion and ranked him 56th on its list of the wealthiest Americans, the richest Chicagoan. Griffin’s land holdings in Palm Beach generated the town’s largest residential tax bill ever last year with a total of $2.23 million.

 

Griffin has already razed the house at 20 Blossom Way and has permission to demolish two other house facing the ocean at No. 30 and No. 50. He bought the fourth lot vacant. He owns the estate today through a limited liability company named Blossom Way Holdings LLC.

 

Earlier this year, the town granted his request to slightly shorten the length of Blossom Way, which gave him more usable land. The town also agreed to allow him to move the entrance to his estate from Blossom Way directly onto South Ocean Boulevard via a new gated driveway.

 

In addition to his business success, Griffin made real estate headlines last September when CNBC and other media outlets reported he had paid $200 million for three floors of the 220 Central Park South condominium tower under construction in New York City.

 

Early this year, the Chicago Tribune reported that Griffin had sold an apartment in Chicago’s Waldorf Astoria tower for $16 million.