Barry Smith, a retired tech CEO, bought a James Bond-inspired spec estate dubbed “Villa Spectre” for $36.8 million, making it Delray Beach’s most expensive home.
Smith bought the waterfront mansion at 16161 Quiet Vista Circle in the Stone Creek Ranch gated community, records show.
The deed doesn’t include any spy gadgets from Q, and Smith will have to fill the 12-car garage with his own Aston Martins. But it comes with just about everything else –– he paid an undisclosed amount to buy the 21,700-square-foot mansion’s furnishings, down to the art on the walls and the silverware on the table, listing agent Senada Adzem confirmed. She declined to comment on the buyer’s identity.
Smith was the CEO of Memorex, a consumer computer products company that emerged in the early days of Silicon Valley. It supplied computer tape and disk drives in the era that IBM mainframes dominated the computer market, according to published reports. He and his wife are currently based in Boca Raton, Adzem confirmed.
He is also a fan of the fictional gentleman spy, Adzem said. Smith went into contract on the mansion just days after the seller, developer Aldo Stark of Prestige Design Homes, completed the project. It closed off-market as a result.
“We sold it and closed, all within 18 days,” Adzem said, adding that deals rarely move so quickly. “They were just so excited.”
The mansion has seven bedrooms, 10 bathrooms, a theater, private salon, spa facilities including an indoor pool, Himalayan salt room, steam room, sauna, dual kitchens and a staff entrance, according to Adzem. The estate spans 2.5 lakefront acres, and includes a 95-foot pool, a soccer field, a pickleball and basketball court, a putting green and an outdoor kitchen.
Stark bought the property for $6.8 million in March of 2023, records show. He completed the mansion in November.
The sale tops the previous price record in Delray Beach set last year, when an entity linked to retail developer Cafaro paid $26 million for a lakefront mansion also in the gated Stone Creek Ranch neighborhood.
Stone Creek Ranch spans 187 acres and includes just 37 estates. It was completed in 2019, and has since attracted a number of high-profile buyers, including billionaire Mets owner Steven Cohen, who bought a mansion for $21.6 million in 2021. Health care investor Dr. Eric Moskow bought a mansion for $17.2 million that same year.
Stark has more ultra-luxury homes in the works in Stone Creek Ranch, fueling the supply of high-end real estate when many spec developers are struggling to make projects pencil out. The developer also completed Casa Maranello at 16171 Quiet Vista Circle, adjacent to Villa Spectre. The 20,700-square-foot mansion was designed with Ferrari enthusiasts in mind (and named aptly: Maranello is the Italian village that is home to Ferrari and its Formula 1 team). Adzem has the listing, asking $55 million.
Records show Stark bought two more Stone Creek Ranch sites earlier this year, a 2.5-acre property at 16121 Quiet Vista Circle for $5.9 million and a 3-acre estate at 9423 Bent Grass Court for $6 million. Adzem said Stark plans to list the completed mansions for $65 million, each.
While the community has always seen pricey deals, Smith’s purchase sets a new pricing standard for Stone Creek Ranch and the rest of Delray Beach, Adzem said.
“I did believe that this market was ready for pricing [at] $2,500 a foot non-oceanfront… so long as the product justified the price,” she said. “This was the first time I saw someone was able to deliver on that level.”