The family of late coal billionaire Chris Cline bought a spec mansion in Palm Beach Gardens’ Old Palm Golf Club for $19.5 million.
Records show a trust for Cline’s descendents bought the house at 12244 Tillinghast Circle from Joseph and Julie Lashinger’s Tillinghast Venture Holdings LLC. Joseph Lashinger is a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the former president of the casino and racetrack now known as Harrah’s Philadelphia.
Michael and Andrew Leibowitz of Leibowitz Realty Group had the listing, and Michael Young of Dale Sorensen Real Estate brought the buyer.
Chris Cline was a self-made billionaire dubbed the “New King Coal,” and credited with reviving Illinois’ coal mining industry, according to a 2011 Bloomberg profile. He, one of his daughters and five other people died in a helicopter crash leaving his private island in the Bahamas in 2019, according to published reports. He had a net worth of $1.8 billion at the time of his death, Forbes reports.
His living heirs include Candice Cline Kenan, Chris L. Cline and Alex T. Cline, according to published reports. In 2021, his family sold both of his oceanfront North Palm Beach mansions ––– one for $25.6 million, and one $22.1 million.
The Lashingers bought the Tillinghast Circle property for $3.5 million in 2021, records show. They transferred ownership to Tillinghast Venture Holdings LLC in 2022. The 1-acre estate was completed this year and includes a nearly 10,500-square-foot mansion with six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, two half-bathrooms, a home theater and game room, as well as a guest house with a gym and yoga studio, the listing shows.
The Lashingers listed the mansion for $20 million in 2022, according to Redfin. They’ve sold spec mansions to big names before –– in 2021, they sold another Tillinghast Circle home to golf great Greg Norman for $12.2 million. Records show they also own a homesteaded house in Old Palm Golf Club that they bought for $8 million in May.
Old Palm Golf Club is one of the gated golf communities coveted by northern Palm Beach County luxury buyers. Last month, billionaire hedge funder Larry Robbins bought a mansion there for $13.9 million. In June, BET co-founder Robert Johnson bought a renovated mansion for $20 million.