Entrepreneur Jim Clark has been busy with high-end Florida real estate deals this year.
After selling his sprawling Manalapan estate for $173 million in a record-setting deal in June, the tech billionaire bought a more modest mansion in Wellington for $12 million in September.
Clark began building his fortune decades ago as the founder of Netscape, WebMD, and Silicon Graphics. Forbes currently estimates his net worth at $2.9 billion.
And when it comes to spending his wealth, Clark enjoys yachting, expensive real estate, and funding start-ups.
In 2018, he sold the Palm Beach estate known as Il Palmetto for $85 million, after putting it on the market for $137 million in 2016.
But that deal pales in comparison to the sale he made to a fellow billionaire this past summer.
Gemini is a star-crossed property
The saga of the massive estate known as Gemini began in 2015, when the Ziff family put the prestigious property on the market for $195 million. Located on a 16-acre barrier island, the parcel offers extensive frontage on both the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway.
The main house on the property measures in at an astonishing 62,000 square feet. It connects to a guesthouse on the waterway via an air-conditioned tunnel. There are three additional guesthouses on the property, plus apartments and offices for management and staff.
Understandably, there is a very small pool of potential buyers who are shopping in the nine-digit price range. Even smaller is the pool of buyers for a ready-made retreat in the Sunshine State—and the upkeep that comes with it.
Two years passed without a buyer; so in May 2017, the Ziff heirs reduced the price by 15%. Back on the market for $165 million, Gemini was still one of the most expensive homes for sale in the U.S. The price was slashed further to $137,500,000 in November 2017. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in August 2020—when luxury buyers were fleeing to Florida—the price was cut even more to a billionaire-friendly $115 million.
Jim Clark to the rescue
With no buyer in sight, locals were reportedly resigned to a subdivision of the massive estate. But Clark stepped up and closed a deal in March 2021 to purchase Gemini for $94,173,300—less than half of its initial asking price.
In a humblebrag, Clark later said the purchase was a “spur of the moment” decision. He even elbowed aside fellow multibillionaire and Oracle founder Larry Ellison in the process.
It was ultimately a profitable acquisition for Clark, who sold the home 15 months later for $173 million to, yep, Ellison. That’s an 84% return on investment, which sure beats parking your money in a CD.
(Realtor.com)
Clark gallops into equestrian country
Fresh off the sale of Gemini to Ellison, Clark’s 2000 S. Ocean Trust bought a smaller property in Wellington, about 15 miles west of Palm Beach.
The seven-bedroom, 9,830-square-foot residence is part of the Palm Beach Polo Golf & Country Club.
Described as a “British West Indies-style estate,” the four-bedroom house features a wine room and a chef’s kitchen. A separate two-bedroom guesthouse comes with a gym room that could be converted into an additional bedroom.
(Realtor.com)
Clark purchased the home from international equestrian Ellen Van Dyke Holtgers.
The well-heeled town is also home to Bill Gates, who has purchased a number of homes in Wellington to support his daughter’s equestrian pursuits.
Fellow billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Laurene Powell Jobs own homes nearby, too.
Erik Gunther
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