The Wall Street Journal-20080111-WEEKEND JOURNAL- The Home Front- House of the Week - Takeover Vet-s Palm Beach
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WEEKEND JOURNAL; The Home Front: House of the Week / Takeover Vet's Palm Beach
What: Midcentury waterfront house with seven bedrooms, 9.5 bathrooms, measuring 10,300 square feet on one acre
Where: Palm Beach, Fla.
Amenities: Media-room cottage, pool, spa, private generator, loggia, 156 feet of frontage on Intracoastal Waterway
Asking Price: $23.5 million
Annual Property Taxes: $179,000
Listing Agent: Paulette Koch and Dana Koch, of Corcoran Group, 561- 227-4416; [email protected]
Due Diligence: Howard Gittis, the longtime business partner of takeover specialist Ronald Perelman, bought this home in 2001 for $9.95 million. Marion Sims Wyeth, one of Palm Beach's best-known architects, designed the two-story Georgian-style house in the 1950s. Mr. Gittis, who died in September at age 73 and was an owner of Palm Beach's Amici Ristorante & Bar, landscaped his home in a classical style, tiled the pool and added gardens, fountains, lighting and a dock with an electric lift that accommodates a boat of up to 30 feet. Inside, among other changes, he remodeled the five fireplaces, adding marble mantels purchased from London's period-fireplace specialist Chesney's. The master suite has a 240-square-foot balcony with a retractable awning. The property is near Mar-a-Lago, a private beach club owned by Donald Trump. Mr. Gittis's estate in New York's Hamptons was put on the market in November with a $59 million price tag.
