William Lauder Finds Buyer for $178M Palm Beach Lots

Billionaire beauty heir William Lauder found a buyer for 2.3 oceanfront acres in Palm Beach asking $177.8 million, setting the stage for a potentially record-breaking deal.

If the sale closes for the most recent listing price, it would break Florida’s residential price record set by billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who paid $173 million for a 16-acre oceanfront estate in nearby Manalapan in 2022. It would also top car dealer Michael Cantanucci’s 2023 purchase of an oceanfront Palm Beach mansion for $170 million, which holds the title of the island’s most expensive home.

Lauder’s pending sale was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. He is the grandson of the late Estée Lauder, serves as executive chairman of her namesake beauty company and has a net worth of $1.2 billion, according to Forbes. The lots were first listed for $200 million in 2023, when Lauder dropped $155 million on the late Rush Limbaugh’s oceanfront Palm Beach estate.

After the lots, which have 360 feet of beachfront, sat on the market for a year, Lauder tapped top Palm Beach agent Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate to take over the listing. The price was slashed to $88.9 million per lot, with a combined asking price of $177.8 million.

The lots were quietly pulled from the Multiple Listing Service on Wednesday, a day before news of the deal broke. The buyer is unknown, but in a shock to Palm Beach’s close-knit circle of top brokers, their agent appears to be an out-of-towner. Agents and island real estate insiders say the buyer’s representative is reality star superbroker Ryan Serhant, who posted a cryptic Instagram story on Wednesday referencing a nearly $200 million deal.

According to Bravo TV, Serhant posted this message on Tuesday: “Sold and closed the most expensive home of my entire career today for just under $200 [million]. And I did the deal over the phone. Wire hit while I was in the air to visit [Serhant Miami] to launch our sales center for Mercedes… Everyone was clapping, even the pilots. What. Is. Life.”

Serhant did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the deal.

This wouldn’t be the first time he swooped into Palm Beach and broke a record. In 2021, he partnered with local agent Chris Leavitt of Douglas Elliman to represent Tiger Global Management co-founder Scott Shleifer in his then-record $123 million purchase of an oceanfront mansion. Leavitt confirmed he was not involved in this latest Lauder deal.

The island’s market for trophy real estate, homes valued at or over $50 million, has ballooned in recent years. Last year, Daren Metropoulos, son of billionaire Dean Metropoulos, bought the historic oceanfront Palm Beach estate known as Casa Amado for $148 million. The deal closed just weeks after spec developer Todd Glaser and his partners sold Tarpon Island for $150 million, making it the most expensive residential sale in Florida in 2024.

Margit Brandt, an agent with Premier Estate Properties and the buyer’s agent in the Tarpon Island sale, said the Lauder deal signals strength in Palm Beach’s ultra-luxury market.

“It just shows you the enthusiasm,” she said. “I think we’re at the beginning of a very busy six-month stretch. All eyes are on Palm Beach — we have a lot of momentum right now.”