Fishers sell Palm Beach Volk home Casa Coral to Sinclairs

Casa Coral, a town-designated landmark, has sold for $9.68 million, according to a deed recorded Friday with the Palm Beach County clerk.

 

Former Innkeepers USA Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Fisher and his wife, Frances, sold the John Volk-designed, 80-year-old Mediterranean-style home at 255 Clarke Ave. to Margaret Sinclair and her husband, Christopher A. Sinclair, the executive chairman and CEO of Cambridge Solutions Ltd., a Connecticut firm that helps businesses with outsourcing.

 

Christopher Sinclair is the former CEO and chairman of Pepsi-Cola.

 

The Sinclairs, who sold their vacation home at 241 El Vedado Road for $8.2 million in August, plan to use Casa Coral as their new vacation getaway, said Bradford P. Miller, who represented them in the sale.

 

"They're going to be here quite a lot," Miller said.

 

Although the deed was dated last week, the Sinclairs have already spent a few nights in their new home, Miller said.

 

On Wednesday, the iron gate across the home's front door remained closed, but landscapers could be seen trimming the purple bougainvillea adorning the front.

 

Corcoran Group broker Jim McCann represented the Fishers, who have said they chose to sell the home in order to travel before their 4-year-old son enters school. They also own 241 La Puerta Way on the island, according to their warranty deed with the Sinclairs.

 

Casa Coral went on the market for $10.9 million in February. Corcoran marketed the 9,000-square-foot home as "an exquisite masterpiece" with "elegant proportions true to John Volk's work."

 

Volk designed Casa Coral in 1927 for Alfred Feltman, of Coney Island hot dog fame. The two-story home is best known for an ornate Plateresque frontispiece that surrounds the front door and extends to the roofline.

 

The main residence has four bedrooms, three bathrooms and three half-baths. The back yard is graced with spurting fountains, a 44-foot lap pool and a guest house containing two bedrooms and a four-car garage.

 

The town designated Casa Coral as a landmark in 1996.

 

Jeffrey Fisher bought the property in 1998 for $2.6 million from Raymond and Diana Tronzo, according to Palm Beach County property records. Over the course of two years, the Fishers completed extensive restoration, including returning the living room ceiling to its original hand-painted condition and revealing the original Spanish tile floor hidden beneath an orange shag carpet.

 

The Sinclairs do not have any immediate plans to build on the property or change any of the Fishers' additions because "the house is in beautiful condition," Miller said.

 

According to Maryellen Cantera, McCann's real estate assistant, Frances Fisher said she and her husband are content to leave their home in such appreciative hands.

 

"She hopes the Sinclairs are as happy as they were there," Cantera said.