A Connecticut car dealer sold his non-waterfront Palm Beach home for $19 million, marking the latest early season luxury sale to close.
Records show Jeffrey Hoffman’s Majollo Palm Beach LLC, a Florida entity, sold the house at 231 Wells Road to Megan Maguire and Sean O’Hara. Maguire and O’Hara financed the purchase with a $10 million loan from CrossCountry Mortgage.
Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates had the listing, and Whitney McGurk with Brown Harris Stevens brought the buyer.
Maguire is the daughter of James J. Maguire, the late founder of Philadelphia Consolidated Holding Corporation, a Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania-based umbrella company that owns several national insurance brands. Philadelphia Consolidated and the Japanese firm Tokio Marine merged in 2008 in a $4.7 billion deal, according to Reuters. She is the president and CEO of her family’s namesake foundation, which supports education, the arts, and efforts against poverty, its website shows.
Hoffman helms his family’s Hoffman Auto Group in East Hartford, Connecticut. Car dealers have emerged as a prominent demographic in South Florida’s luxury real estate market in recent years. In 2023, luxury car dealer Michael Cantanucci paid a record $170 million for an oceanfront Palm Beach estate.
Hoffman bought the Wells Road house for $7.7 million in 2014, according to property records. It was built in 2001 on 0.3 acres and spans 5,800 square feet, with six bedrooms, six bathrooms, one half-bathroom and a pool, according to property records.
It hit the market in November asking $20 million, according to Zillow.
It’s the latest deal to close in a season jumpstarted by Donald Trump’s presidential win. Earlier this month, a renovated non-waterfront home that also listed in November sold for $16.2 million.
But the priciest deal of the season so far has yet to close: Billionaire beauty heir William Lauder is in contract to sell 2.3 vacant oceanfront acres that were last asking $177.8 million.