A $285M estate was planned here. Two South Florida billionaires just bought it

Real Estate News admin June 16, 2026 0 Comments

A $285M estate was planned here. Two South Florida billionaires just bought it

A four-acre lot in a seaside town south of Mar-a-Lago was supposed to be the site of one of the most expensive homes ever built in the U.S.

But instead the Manalapan lot was split between two of Palm Beach County’s best-known billionaires, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and WeatherTech founder David MacNeil, for a combined price of $67 million. The two men own the homes neighboring the lot at 1960 S. Ocean Blvd.

Manalapan, an exclusive oceanfront community about 10 miles south of Palm Beach, was once a posh but sleepy beach destination. But in recent years, it’s become known as a haven for the ultra-wealthy.

Ellison is the sixth-wealthiest person in the world, with Forbes placing his net worth at around $190 billion. MacNeil is worth an estimated $4.2 billion.

Both men are prolific buyers of South Florida real estate. Before this latest purchase, MacNeil had bought and sold more than $207 million worth of real estate in Palm Beach and Broward counties this year, The Real Deal reported.

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Robert W. Burrage of RWB Construction planned to build a $285 million, 50,000-square-foot estate with a bowling alley, golf training facility and car museum. Ellison purchased the southern portion of the lot for $35 million, and MacNeil bought the northern portion for $32 million, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Developer and former Manalapan Mayor Stewart Satter was the seller, and he was represented by Douglas Elliman real estate agent Nicholas Malinosky. Margit Brandt of Premier Estate Properties represented MacNeil.

Along Manalapan’s so-called billionaire’s row, luxurious multimillion-dollar estates stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the east to the Intracoastal Waterway to the west. The tiny beachfront town has fewer than 500 residents.

Manalapan began its transformation into a billionaire hotspot when former eBay president Jeffrey Skoll bought a $90 million estate there in 2021. Ellison soon followed with the 2022 purchase of a property known as Gemini, which he bought for $173 million. He went on to purchase the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa for $277 million in 2024. The resort opened as a Ritz-Carlton in 1991.

Fox News commentator Sean Hannity and life coach Tony Robbins are also among Manalapan’s celebrity homeowners. Singer Billy Joel sold his Manalapan mansion for $43 million in 2024.

Manalapan is about a 20-minute drive from President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Both Ellison and MacNeil are close allies of the president. Trump has been a vocal proponent of two high-profile business ventures backed by Ellison: the Oracle co-founder’s purchase of TikTok and his son’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery.

Trump nominated MacNeil to be the head of the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year. MacNeil, the founder and CEO of a company that sells heavy-duty floor mats for cars, is widely considered a controversial pick for the job and has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.

This story was originally published June 16, 2026 at 12:16 PM.