Ex-Patrón CEO Sells Jupiter Mansion for Record $48M

The retired head of Patrón Spirits sold his Bears Club mansion for $48 million, making it the most expensive home ever sold in Jupiter and inland Palm Beach County.

Edward and Ashley Brown sold their estate at 152 Bears Club Drive to Frank and Dolores Mennella, according to property records. Jim McCann of Premier Estate Properties had the listing, and Philip Lyle Smith of Luxury Resort Portfolio brought the buyer.

Ex-Patrón CEO Sells Jupiter Mansion for Record $48M — The Bears Club mansion (Marc Thee)

It marks the latest record deal to close in Jupiter in recent months. Last month, hat mogul Christopher Koch spent a record $35 million on a waterfront spec mansion, topping the $34 million that seed magnate Ronald Holden spent on a waterfront estate in the gated Admirals Cove neighborhood in November.

Edward Brown retired from his role as CEO and president of Patrón in 2018, following a 20-year run with the tequila giant. He and his wife run the Selfless Love Foundation, a Jupiter-based nonprofit that promotes adoption and reforms for the child welfare system, its website shows.

The couple bought the 2.4-acre Bears Club property for $6 million in 2018, records show. They completed the 16,300-square-foot mansion in 2021. It includes five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, three half-bathrooms, a fitness center, salon, massage room, golf simulator, lap pool and a pool with a swim-up bar, according to records and the listing. The Browns tapped Mark Tremblay of Marc-Michaels Interior Design to design the home.

It hit the market for $58 million in October, Redfin shows. McCann said the listing price was based on affluent buyers’ interest in the kind of turnkey estates that are in short supply across South Florida.

“We were seeing buyers [who] were looking for instant gratification to move into a completed home, and there’s very little available,” he said. McCann pointed to record deals in gated communities like Stone Creek Ranch, where non-waterfront spec estates are selling for “eye-popping” prices.

Still, he said, “The highest comparables are nowhere near $48 million.”

The buyers, the Mennellas, are frequent investors in Palm Beach County’s ultra-luxury real estate market. In 2023, they sold an oceanfront Manalapan estate for $48.4 million. Records show their current homestead is a 2-acre ocean-to-lake Manalapan estate. They bought the land for $7.5 million in 2018, and completed the mansion in 2022. It is just two doors down from billionaire Larry Ellison’s $173 million oceanfront compound.

For their part, the Browns are not going far. The couple bought an oceanfront spec mansion on Jupiter Island for $33.8 million from developer Todd Glaser, McCann confirmed. Zillow shows the sale closed earlier this month, but it hasn’t been recorded by Martin County yet.