The house at 101 Jungle Road, near Mar-a-Lago, the home of former President Trump, has been for sale for nearly two years.
The Palm Beach summer real estate scene continues to throw up surprises when it comes to higher-end off-season real estate deals.
After news broke in late July that a buyer was already on the waiting list for a $96 million beachfront property on the North End, a purchase agreement has just been signed for a beachfront property on the other side of town, Jungle Road, with an asking price of just under $55 million.
In real estate, the house at 101 Jungle Road has been for sale for nearly two years, according to the Multiple Listing Service. The property was the longtime home of the late Democratic political activist Elaine Schuster and her late husband, businessman Gerry. Elaine Schuster died in August 2022 at the age of 90, and her husband died in 2019 at the age of 89.
Their property encompasses nearly an acre, including a beach lot with 200 feet of waterfront across South Ocean Boulevard.
The house was built in 1955 but was completely remodeled after a fire in 1983. The two-story, five-bedroom building is designed in the style of Bermuda and Georgian architecture. In total, the house, including the pool cabana, is 1,230 square meters.
The house is located about a mile north of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club.
There is no information yet on who will buy the Schuster property, when the sale might be completed and how much will change hands.
Agent Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate is representing the Schuster estate in the sale of the property, which was first listed on the MLS in September 2022 with an asking price of $62.9 million. The price was reduced to $59.95 million in late March 2023 and saw its most recent reduction to $54.9 million in January.
The property is marketed in the MLS category of “Single Family” but also appears in the lot section as a potential teardown.
The status of Angle’s listing in the MLS was changed on July 30 to indicate that a sale was “pending” with contingencies, which typically means the buyer can back out of the deal without paying a penalty. The status was changed to “pending” with no contingencies on August 2.
Angle could not be reached for comment.
Broker Margit Brandt of Premier Estate Properties confirmed to the Palm Beach Daily News that she is handling the buyer side of the upcoming sale, but she would not identify the buyer and declined to discuss the deal.
It is unclear whether the buyer(s) of the house intend to leave it in this condition.
The Jungle Road home was under contract once before. About six weeks after it was listed on the MLS two years ago, the listing status was changed to pending. But that deal fell through, and the home came back on the market as an active listing in January 2023.
The floor plan includes a formal dining room and a generous living room with ocean views on one side and views of the pool area on the other. A generous library has custom built-in cabinetry. There is also a gym.
The Schusters were prominent Democrats. Among Elaine Schuster’s accomplishments was that in 2009, President Barack Obama appointed her as a public delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, where she focused on promoting awareness of and combating human trafficking.
Her husband was the founder and CEO of Continental Wingate, a family-owned business focused on financial services, real estate development, property management and healthcare companies.
The $96 million listing, which went under the hammer in late July, was for the beachfront property at 1446 N. Ocean Blvd., owned by Leonard Riggio, former CEO of the Barnes & Noble bookstore chain, and his wife Louise. The property, which includes a contemporary-style home built in 1979, is on 1.6 acres and has 205 feet of direct beach access. Because the back of the house faces a roughly equal-sized, state-protected dune and beach lot, the property appears much larger than it actually is.
Agent Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates holds the listing on the Riggio property, which went under contract on July 30, less than six weeks after the listing was posted on the MLS. The listing had been on the MLS since June 3, according to records, but was not marked “active” until June 20.
Portions of this story previously appeared in the Palm Beach Daily News.
Darrell Hofheinz is a journalist with the USA TODAY Network of Florida who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly column, “Beyond the Hedges.” He welcomes tips on island real estate news. Email [email protected], call 561-820-3831 or tweet @PBDN_Hofheinz.
