The attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13 sent the U.S. Secret Service scrambling to ensure the former president’s safety. Now, the security strategy is disrupting Palm Beach’s luxury real estate market.
Beginning July 20, the Secret Service closed off a stretch of South Ocean Boulevard in front of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club indefinitely. The closure extends northward from Mar-a-Lago at 1100 South Ocean Boulevard to the intersection of South Ocean and South County Road. The Palm Beach Police department says it expects the closure to last until the November election, the Palm Beach Daily News reported.
The road closure is 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Residents and workers needing to access blockaded homes must be cleared by law enforcement. Homes south of Mar-a-Lago are effectively cut off from the rest of the tony island, and homes north of the private club lose access to the Southern Boulevard Bridge, one of the three bridges that connect Palm Beach to the mainland.
“Thankfully we are in offseason,” Town Manager Kirk Blouin said, noting concerns about continued road closures when the island’s seasonal residents return in the fall, and how that could exacerbate traffic.
Palm Beachers say the closures have cut the island in half and are a thorn in the side of agents who have listings in the blockaded area, where the cheapest home on the market is asking $13.9 million.
“I don’t see it as being positive,” said Douglas Elliman agent Gary Pohrer, who will be listing a home adjacent to Mar-a-Lago soon. The closures, “can’t be something somebody would want to endure,” he said of potential buyers.
The priciest listing impacted by the closures is the spec mansion at 1090 South Ocean Boulevard asking $45 million. Premier Estate Properties agent Margit Brandt has the listing. Other affected listings include: Compass agent Elizabeth DeWoody’s $24 million listing for 1048 South Ocean Boulevard; Corcoran Group’s Dana and Paulette Koch’s $17.5 million listing for 130 Algoma Road and $16 million listing for 125 Via Vizcaya; and Spencer Bernstein and Robbie Jackson of Bob Jackson, Inc’s $15.8 million listing for 153 Kings Road.
Listings to the south of Mar-a-Lago are also affected, having lost their direct access to the rest of the island. This includes the $40 million listing for 500 Regents Park Road. Listing agent Rob Thomson of Waterfront Properties & Club Communities said the home is not more than 200 feet from Mar-a-Lago, but he’s not too worried about the closures hindering his marketing efforts.
“Can it be annoying? Sure. Is it horrific? No,” Thomson said. “Last time we all just got used to it.”
The last time the island experienced road closures as part of Trump’s security detail was during his presidency, when the road in front of Mar-a-Lago would close when he was in town, and reopen when he departed. In 2018, Waterfront Properties agent Traci DeGeorge (who is now with Douglas Elliman) had the listing for 1045 South Ocean Boulevard, which is just north of Mar-a-Lago.
“The barricade was literally in front of the front door,” said Thomson, who owns Waterfront Properties. “It was really not any different timewise than pulling up to a golf community and stopping at the gate.”
Thomson, who is a member of Mar-a-Lago and lives in Admirals Cove, the gated Jupiter community where Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle live, said the Secret Service barriers didn’t dissuade potential buyers of the South Ocean Boulevard home.
He said: “It made people feel really safe.”
Meanwhile, Palm Beach has asked the Secret Service for its legal argument for requiring the 24/7 road closure, and is seeking to reopen the road whenever Trump is away, Blouin said.
“The closure itself is understandable,” he said. “The challenge is the permanent road closure when the protectee is not in town.”