$185M ‘Demo-Ready’ Palm Beach Estate Hits Market

Imagine dropping nearly $200 million on a mansion, just to turn around and demolish the entire thing to build something new. That’s what listing agents suggest for a sprawling 1980s-built compound that has just about everything one could want in a multi-million-dollar Palm Beach estate.

The 17,572-square-foot estate at 911 N. Ocean Blvd. sits on about 2.2 acres of beachfront property in Palm Beach, and, with an asking price of $185 million, it’s one of the most expensive listings in the country. The estate served as the longtime home of real-estate mogul Murray Goodman, who many consider a pioneer of the super-regional mall, having developed large shopping centers like The Esplanade Palm Beach and Westmoreland Mall in Hempfield Township, Pennsylvania.

And the lore of the land underneath rivals the history of its recent prestigious owner. The address is part of what used to be a 27-acre lot that housed Playa Riente, the “finest private residence in America in the early 1920s,” according to American Aristocracy. Anna Dodge, the widow of automotive titan Horace Dodge, bought the home for $1.8 million (about $33 million today, adjusted for inflation). Dodge razed the property in the ’50s and sold off the land in lots for development after losing a legal challenge to rezone the land for use as a club.

Goodman bought a portion of the land in the mid-1970s before he moved his family and business to Palm Beach from Pennsylvania. His daughter Marley Overman, listing agent at Illustrated Properties, told Realtor.com that the estate is good condition but has potential for a developer to create their own vision. Overman’s mother, Joanie, plans to downsize and move to the opposite side of town to be closer to family following Goodman’s death in December 2024, Realtor.com reported.

The estate’s most eye-catching feature, in its current form, is a massive, sunset-pink seawall facing Palm Beach’s world-renowned waters. The estate has four buildings with 12 beds, 20 bathrooms, a resort-style pool, a full-sized tennis court, a cabana, a greenhouse, and 360-degrees of lush views.

If you can’t quite scrape together $185 million to buy the estate outright, good news, there’s still a way in. Zillow will help mortgage applicants with pre-qualification, noting that a possible payment might only cost about $1.2 million a month.