Billionaire pays $55.5M in cash for an undeveloped lot in Florida — bringing his total spending to $94M to build his dream retreat
Billionaire David MacNeil and his wife Melissa just closed on a lake-to-ocean lot in Manalapan, Florida for $55.5 million in cash — bringing their total spending to a staggering $94 million before the couple even begins to build their dream house there.
And the billionaire calls it a deal.
“I actually think I got a bargain,” MacNeil, the founder and CEO of WeatherTech, a car mat manufacturer, told Gimme Shelter in an exclusive interview.
The land — which has structures on it, all of which will be knocked down — is adjacent to another lot that MacNeil purchased for $38.5 million last year.
The property runs from the Intracoastal to the Atlantic. When both lots are combined, the end result will be a compound on 3.6 acres — and 340 feet on the ocean.
“It’s the second largest lot in Manalapan, and the only lot in Palm Beach with Intracoastal and ocean frontage is Mar-a-Lago, so this is very special,” MacNeil said.
The seller of the $55.5 million lot at 1140 S. Ocean Blvd was celebrity developer Joe Farrell, whose clients over the years have included Madonna and Justin Bieber. The lot was also marketed for $95 million, which included a not-yet-built spec house, as Gimme reported exclusively.
Listing broker Margit Brandt, of Premier Estate Properties, also represented the buyer.
MacNeil tells Gimme that he is building a residence and a guest house on the massive site — and that work has already begun with the construction of a sea wall.
“We are designing an amazingly functional and extraordinarily well-built, aesthetically pleasing home that is classy, not ostentatious,” said MacNeil, who will move in with his wife and three dogs — with lots of room for their adult kids to visit. The family’s current home base is Fort Lauderdale, where they recently sold a $40 million home.
The architect of the Manalapan compound is Holdren + Lietzke, of Monterey, California; the builder is local-based company RWB Construction Management, MacNeil said.
“We are building a home, not a house — with an amazing, timeless design. We are very excited with the preliminary plans,” MacNeil said.
He added that the home will also have a large garage for his extensive car collection, which starts in the 1920s and runs to this century.
Having a property on the Atlantic and the Intracoastal was “extremely important because you get the ocean plus a boat on the Intracoastal. It’s the best of both worlds,” MacNeil said. “We’re getting permits now, and we are very excited to get going.”
He estimates it will take two and a half years to construct.
Manalapan is just 10 miles south of Palm Beach and 9 miles north of Delray Beach, and it is becoming the go-to destination for billionaires, as Gimme previously reported.
Billionaire Larry Ellison, co-founder of software giant Oracle, owns the area’s largest private residence, which he bought for $173 million in 2022. He also owns the former beachfront Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa in Manalapan at 100 S. Ocean Blvd., which had asked a stratospheric $300 million.
Another local developer Stewart Satter has listed land, and a home he hasn’t built yet, for $285 million — a planned ocean-to-Intracoastal estate — on the site of a teardown mansion that he bought for $27.5 million last year. The 4-acre parcel is one of the most expensive residential listings in US history.
Other Manalapan residents include Billy Joel, Tony Robbins and Farrell himself, who has owned a home there for two decades.
“Manalapan is underrated,” Brandt said. “Where else can you get these kinds of massive, multi-acre, ocean-to-lake spreads, with direct ocean access, right on the sand with no road? It offers close proximity to the action of Palm Beach but with additional opportunities for privacy, security and space.”
