The world’s third-richest man is on the prowl for a third home in Miami — as well as an oceanfront estate in Palm Beach, Florida, sources tell Gimme Shelter.
Jeff Bezos recently bought two adjacent homes on the barrier island Indian Creek for a combined $147 million in two separate purchases. The Amazon and Blue Origin billionaire will most likely tear both down and build a mega-compound, sources say, adding that he’s searching for a third Miami home to buy and live in until the Indian Creek compound is move-in ready. (Burrito baron Steve Ells, the Chipotle founder, did something similar in the West Village, as did Tommy Hilfiger in Palm Beach, as Gimme reported earlier this week.)
Bezos and Lauren Sanchez were also spotted lunching in Palm Beach recently — once at Le Bilboquet on Worth Avenue with Hilfiger, Dee Ocleppo, Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin, where talk quickly turned to real estate.
We hear that one of the Palm Beach spots Bezos expressed interest in is Villa Artemis, which is not for sale. However, the exquisite oceanfront property, at 656 N. County Road, is being quietly shopped to a few ultra 1-percenters for the whisper — and sky-high — ask of $300 million, sources add.
In an exclusive interview with Gimme Shelter, Michael Horvitz — a retired lawyer who owns the property with his wife Jane Rosenthal Horvitz and his sister-in-law Cynthia Rosenthal Boardman — confirmed that it is indeed being shopped off-market to a few individuals whom he declined to name.
“I was approached by someone who asked me if he could show it to a few people. He thinks he can sell it for a price we can’t refuse. But we don’t want to sell,” said Horvitz in a phone call from London.
The home was once owned by Amy Phipps — an aviation enthusiast who gave her plane, Friendship, to Amelia Earhart — and Frederick Guest. There’s an iconic photograph of their daughter-in-law C. Z. Guest standing by the pool with a Roman temple replica in the background. It was snapped by Slim Aarons, the World War II combat photographer turned society chronicler.
The estate, which comes with a guest house, has been in the same family now since 1959, Horvitz said. “It’s been in my wife’s family for more than 60 years. I’d really like to not sell it,” he added.
