A local real estate investor paid $22 million for a mansion across from the ocean in Delray Beach.
Records show Daniel E. Edwards bought the adjacent properties at 553 Harbor Court and 526 North Ocean Boulevard from Michelle Broda. Broda is the widow of a West Virginia fracking mogul, Randy Broda, who died in March of last year. He was president of Jay-Bee Oil & Gas in Cairo, West Virginia.
Edwards is a real estate investor with a portfolio of properties across Palm Beach County, primarily in Delray Beach, property records show. State records also tie Edwards to several Florida LLCs. Since 2020, Edwards has spent at least $11.6 million on properties in the area, according to records.
Warren Heeg, a broker with Compass, represented both sides of the latest deal.
Broda and her late husband bought the mansion at 553 Harbor Court for $4.9 million in 2010, records show. They bought the adjacent house at 526 North Ocean Boulevard in 2015 for an unknown amount, according to property records. Combined, the properties span more than an acre and are directly across the street from the Atlantic Ocean.
The main house spans 12,000 square feet, with five bathrooms, and seven bathrooms, records show.
Heeg said the Brodas converted the home on the second property into an 8,000-square-foot, two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom guest house.
The property also includes a 12-car garage, pool, movie theater and bocce court, the listing shows.
The sale marks one of the priciest in Delray Beach in the past year. The market has softened from a nearly three-year-long pandemic-fueled high, but prices have been holding. The median sale price in Delray Beach in December rose 27.6 percent, year-over-year, while sales volume declined 42.3 percent during the same period, according to data from Redfin.
Delray Beach saw several pricey sales during the pandemic heyday. In October 2021, an attorney sold an oceanfront estate for $34 million. That same month, a healthcare investor bought a waterfront mansion for $17.2 million. In August 2021, Steven Cohen, billionaire owner of the New York Mets, bought a waterfront home for $21.6 million.