Cury-built house on Seabreeze Avenue sells for $6.18 million
With their purchase this week of a house at 167 Seabreeze Ave. for a recorded $6.18 million, health-care executive Philip L. Carter and his wife, Julia, now own two Palm Beach vacation homes built by high-end residential developer Ed Cury.
The Carters, who own a third home in Windermere near Orlando, bought the five-bedroom, Mediterranean-style house on Seabreeze from Martha DeBrule, widow of the late industrialist William DeBrule.
Philip Carter is CEO and president of Orlando-based Rotech Healthcare and previously headed Apria Healthcare Group. Before that, he was president of the discount retailer McFrugal’s Bargains-Close-Outs.
The DeBrules listed the house — a custom home completed in 2002 for the couple — with Jim McCann of the Corcoran Group in February. The DeBrules moved to a condominium in Trump Plaza on the West Palm Beach waterfront before William DeBrule died in June.
Representing the Carters in the transaction was Ed Cury’s wife, Victoria Cury, a real estate agent at Landmark Realty Group’s West Palm Beach office. The Carters and the Curys met in 2008 when the Carters bought their other Palm Beach residence, a townhouse at 165 Main St., which they are planning to sell, Victoria Cury said.
McCann original marketed the Seabreeze Avenue house at $7.95 million.
“The seller was hopeful that we would be able to achieve a slightly higher price,” McCann said.
But he added that the price recorded Wednesday on the warranty deed reflects how prices have evolved on the island, where the market for homes selling at more than $4 million has been far less active over the past few months than in the lower end.
No Palm Beach single-family home sales, in fact, have been recorded between $6 million and $7 million since late August. That was when the Estate Section house known as Elephant Walk — since demolished — at 109 Jungle Road sold for $6.8 million and a property at 1480 N. Lake Way sold for $6.1 million.
The Carters’ new house stands on an oversized lot measuring nearly a fifth of an acre at the intersection of Seabreeze Avenue and South County Road. The two-story house has nearly 8,500 square feet of living space, inside and out.
“I think the price was justified for the size of the home and the size of the lot,” listing agent McCann said.
The house has a floor plan with a first-floor master suite — a feature that McCann said was important to the DeBrules when they built the house.
“They could live all on one level, but when (family members) came to visit, they could stay on the second floor,” he explained.
The Carters were attracted to the Seabreeze Avenue house because they liked its Midtown location and had been happy with the craftsmanship of the townhome built by The Cury Group, Victoria Cury said. The Carters have spent most weekends in Palm Beach for the past three years, she added.
The DeBrules had also owned a townhouse built by Ed Cury before commissioning their custom home more than a decade ago, she said.