Developer Fensterstock pays $11.2M for Palm Beach home, then relists it at just under $16M

Darrell Hofheinz, Palm Beach Daily News
Updated ·4 min read

A renovated 1950s-era house on the near North End of Palm Beach sold last week for a recorded $11.2 million to a real estate developer, who immediately re-listed it for sale at just under $16 million.

Palm Beach resident and real estate speculator Lee Fensterstock manages the limited liability company that bought the house at 264 Dunbar Road, business records show. The sale closed March 5, and just days later, Fenstertock had the property back on the market, listed at $15.9 million in the land category of the multiple listing service.

The lot measures nearly half an acre on the southeast corner of Bradley Place, a block east of the Intracoastal Waterway.

Fensterstock declined to discuss his purchase, the new listing or any plans he may have for the property.

A Palm Beach house built in the 1950s at 264 Dunbar Road on the southeast corner of Bradley Place has changed hands for a recorded $11.2 million. The buyer, developer Lee Fensterstock, immediately relisted the property for its land value at $15.9 million.
A Palm Beach house built in the 1950s at 264 Dunbar Road on the southeast corner of Bradley Place has changed hands for a recorded $11.2 million. The buyer, developer Lee Fensterstock, immediately relisted the property for its land value at $15.9 million.

Carin E. Searby was the seller, property records show.

The house last changed hands a recorded $2.15 million for the house in 2011, property records show.

With traditional-style architecture, the four-bedroom house built in 1953 has 4,868 square feet of living space, inside and out.

The house had been marketed for sale with a price tag of $12.5 million by agents Allison Wren and Dana Koch of the Corcoran Group.

Koch and his mother, Corcoran agent Paulette Koch, acted on behalf Fensterstock, just as they have in other sales, the multiple listing service shows. They hold the new listing for the Dunbar Road property.

The lot’s size and current market conditions justify the new higher price, Dana Koch said after the new listing entered the MLS.

“There are really no tear-downs on substantial lots in this price category” of the MLS, Koch said before declining to comment further about the listing or the sale.

The house that just sold at 264 Dunbar Road in Palm Beach stands on a lot measuring nearly a half-acre at the corner of Bradley Place on the near North End.
The house that just sold at 264 Dunbar Road in Palm Beach stands on a lot measuring nearly a half-acre at the corner of Bradley Place on the near North End.

Searby said she had no comment about the sale.

The house entered the MLS in February 2023 and had been under contract since August, the MLS shows. Its initial price of $15.5 million dropped three times.

The previous sales listing said the house was ripe for replacement or renovation. Photos in the MLS showed generously proportioned rooms with high ceilings and contemporary architectural elements. The family room is topped by a beamed ceiling and has French doors that open onto the pool patio.

Newly listed at $15.9 million in the "land" category of the multiple listing service, a house at 264 Dunbar Road has a freeform pool in its backyard. The property just changed hands for a recorded $11.2 million.
Newly listed at $15.9 million in the "land" category of the multiple listing service, a house at 264 Dunbar Road has a freeform pool in its backyard. The property just changed hands for a recorded $11.2 million.

During his career, Fensterstock has worked in the financial and investments industry, including running his own company, Fensterstock Management LLC, according to a brief online biographical sketch. Fensterstock Management invests in the financial services industry. He is a former member of the board of trustees at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Fensterstock and his wife, Ann, live on the North End of Palm Beach.

The developer has two other listings in the Palm Beach Board of Realtors MLS, both held by Paulette Koch and Dana Koch. One of those is a never-lived-in house he developed on speculation at 130 Algoma Road near former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club. With five bedrooms and 7,312 total square feet, the house on Algoma Road is listed at just under $20 million, having entered the market in October at $23 million.

His other listing is a six-bedroom spec house expected to be completed in April on a North End lot at 216 Southland Drive. That property carries an in-construction price tag of just under $17 million.

Fensterstock’s most recent Palm Beach sales include two that closed last year on the North End, in which he was again represented by Paulette Koch and her son. One was a new five-bedroom house with 5,500 total square feet at 240 Mockingbird Trail, which changed hands in August for a recorded $16.9 million. Broker Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate handled the buyer's side

Last April, Fensterstock sold, for a recorded $13.15 million, a 1990s-era investment house he renovated at 233 Miraflores Drive. Douglas Elliman Real Estate agent Spencer Schlager negotiated for the buyer opposite the Koch team in the sale of that four-bedroom, 4,486-square-foot house.

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This story was updated from a previous version.

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Darrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. He welcomes tips about real estate news on the island. Email dhofheinz@pbdailynews.com, call 561-820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Developer buys Palm Beach home for $11.2M then relists it at $16M