UPDATE: Fox’s Sean Hannity reportedly pays $23.5M for estate south of Palm Beach
Fox News host Sean Hannity was reportedly on the buyer’s side of an ocean-to-lake estate that sold before Thanksgiving for a recorded $23.5 million in the wealthy town of Manalapan south of Palm Beach.
Hannity also owns a Palm Beach townhouse, which he bought in 2021 and last year declared to be his primary residence, according to Palm Beach County records.
The Wall Street Journal on Dec. 3 was the first media outlet to identify Hannity as the buyer behind the purchase of the Manalapan estate at 1840 S. Ocean Blvd.
The Palm Beach Daily News had reported the sale Nov. 27, the day after a deed recorded that listed the buyer as a Georgia-based trust named after the address of the property, which measures about 2 acres. The Daily News has not independently confirmed Hannity’s involvement in the sale, but the deed listed his longtime financial adviser, William G. Lako Jr., as trustee of the buying entity.
Sean Hannity
The identity of the seller of 1840 S. Ocean Blvd. remains hidden in public records behind the Florida limited liability company that bought the estate three years ago for a recorded $18 million. But the Journal article cited mortgage records to link the selling entity, 1840 South Ocean LLC, to Palm Beach resident and financier Randall Smith. He is married to real estate investor Barbara Stovall Smith, who has been involved with the purchase and sale of multiple properties in Palm Beach over the past decade, the Palm Beach Daily News has confirmed.
Randall Smith co-founded the hedge fund Alden Global Capital and has invested heavily in newspapers and media companies through his Digital First Media and New Media Group.
After the house changed hands in November 2021, improvements and upgrades were made to the eight-bedroom property, according to the latest sales listing. Those included replacing some of the floors, renovating bathrooms, installing a new cooler unit in the wine room and installing new impact-resistant sliding glass doors, windows and skylights.
The trust on the buyer’s side of the sale has a mailing address in Kennesaw, Georgia — the same as Hennsler Financial, where Lako is principal and president. Lako did not return a phone message left for him at his office Nov. 26.
The Mediterranean-style house built in 1990 looks out to 150 feet of frontage on the Intracoastal Waterway. The coastal road separates the main property from its sizable beach parcel, which faces 150 feet of oceanfront and has a cabana.
Fox News host Sean Hannity reportedly just paid a recorded $23.5 million for this ocean-to-lake estate at 1840 S. Ocean Blvd in Manalapan, south of Palm Beach. The estate underwent renovations since it last sold for $18 million in 2021.
The buildings have a total 20,106 square feet of living space, inside and out, property records show. The residence, with 11,953 square feet of air-conditioned space, features multiple terraces. The lakeside “resort-style” swimming pool was refinished by the seller — who also installed a new seawall — according to the sales listing.
With a private dock, the estate lies about six-tenths of a mile north of the Boynton Beach Inlet, allowing a boater unimpeded access to the Intracoastal Waterway.
Douglas Elliman Real Estate agents Gary Pohrer and Nick Malinosky acted for the seller. They had listed the property in October at $25.95 million, according to the multiple listing service.
The selling entity is managed by West Palm Beach real estate attorney Maura Ziska. She and Pohrer declined to comment about the transaction. The Smiths could not be reached.
Agent Vince Spadea, also of Douglas Elliman, confirmed he acted for the buyer but would not comment further.
A Fox News representative for Hannity could not be reached. But the Journal reported that a network spokeswoman declined to a comment on his behalf.
Hannity sold his New York estate in June for more than $12 million
In June, Hannity sold his New York estate on Long Island for about $12.69 million, the price reported in the MLS. The buyer was a New York limited liability company named after the nearly 6-acre, waterfront property’s address at 406 Center Island Road on Oyster Bay’s Centre Island.
Hannity made headlines in early January when he said on his iHeart Radio show that he had moved his broadcasting operations from New York and begun broadcasting from “the free state of Florida.” He said the policies of the Sunshine State’s conservative political leadership were more in line with his values than those of liberal-leaning “blue” states such as New York.
President-elect Donald Trump takes part in a town hall moderated by Fox News broadcaster Sean Hannity in September.
Hannity’s home in Palm Beach is a South End townhouse he has owned since 2021, when he paid a recorded $5.3 million for it, property records show.
In January, Palm Beach Daily News was the first media outlet to report that Hannity had filed an official “declaration of domicile” at the Palm Beach County Courthouse that listed the townhouse as his “permanent home.” He also has the townhome homesteaded as his primary residence in the latest tax rolls.
He reportedly broadcasts his weekday radio program, “The Sean Hannity Show,” and his weeknight Fox TV show, “Hannity,” from studios in West Palm Beach.
Windows in Manalapan house offer views of the Atlantic and the Intracoastal
Interior features of the house that just changed hands in Manalapan include a living room with a fireplace and a formal dining room, according to the sale listing. The open-plan kitchen has two work islands, a breakfast area and access to the outdoor dining area. Throughout the house, windows and glass doors capture views of the Intracoastal Waterway and the ocean.
Exterior terraces offer “wide water views and ample space for outdoor dining and living areas,” the sales listing says. There’s also a rooftop “observation terrace” with an adjacent indoor wet bar.
The seller bought the house in December 2021 from former investment banker Robert Steinberg, who was joined in the sale by his wife, Suzanne, according to the deed. The Steinbergs had purchased the estate for a recorded $8.975 million in 2009.
Agent Shelly Newman of William Raveis South Florida acted on behalf of the Steinbergs in the sale three years ago. She negotiated opposite broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates.
Although sales in Manalapan have slowed over the past year, asking prices for premium properties remain far higher than before the coronavirus pandemic-sparked the real estate boom that arrived in the town in early 2021, real estate observers say.
The boom came, in part, because some homebuyers bought in Manalapan after they couldn’t find waterfront estates in Palm Beach, where housing inventory shrank dramatically during the first years of the pandemic. The housing boom also was fueled by the work-at-home trend and Florida’s favorable tax climate.
Manalapan grabbed international headlines in June 2022 when Oracle software billionaire Larry Ellison paid a recorded $173 million for a 22-acre estate at 2000 S. Ocean Blvd. on the south end of town, setting a new Florida residential record.
Ellison made more Manalapan real estate news in August when paid a recorded $277.4 million for the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa.
