palm beach

Renowned Swiss watchmaker Piaget took over Palm Beach and Wellington, Florida recently to celebrate the brand's longtime commitment to the sport of polo.

Among the posh events was a garden party presenting the band's newest collection at the Flagler Museum, and an intimate field-side dinner at the International Polo Club Palm Beach to present the new Pilarà-Piaget polo team.

The festivities concluded with the final match of the Piaget Gold Cup at the Polo Club, attended by American Beauty actress Mena Suvari and followed by an exclusive champagne reception outside the 7th Chukker.

On display for the first time in the U.S. were the latest editions to the Piaget Polo FortyFive collection including two new models in rose gold and titanium, one featuring Piaget's manufactured chronograph movement and the other equipped with Piaget's in-house perpetual calendar movement.

Audi's polo team won the Gold Cup and each of the victorious players got to take home a Piaget
Polo FortyFive watch.

The Four Seasons Resort Palm Beach in Palm Beach, Florida recently finalized a two-year, multi-million dollar renovation which included a complete room redesign, added a luxurious salon and spa and upgraded the pool terrace. To celebrate, the resort is offering guests a chance to indulge in a little personal restyling of their own by partnering with Tory Burch to offer a gift of up to $500.

Canadian interior designer Brian Gluckstein is responsible for a total makeover of the rooms at Four Seasons Palm Beach. Gluckstein, who designed the new spa in 2009, used a similar palette of muted sea-glass colors and custom furniture to give the new rooms a modern comfortable beach house feel that perfectly frames the hotel's stunning ocean views. The area surrounding the resort's swimming pool has been re-tiled with Egyptian Sunny Gold limestone and new lounges upholstered in lime green and accented by brown pillows were added.

Luxury is on the rise in Palm Beach once again. Lionheart Capital, owner of The Ritz-Carlton Residences Singer Island, is hosting the official grand opening of the 8.8-acre oceanfront property on January 21. The two tower complex is one of only six stand-alone residential properties managed by the Ritz-Carlton brand worldwide. In June 2010, Lionheart, in partnership with Elliott Management Corporation, closed the $120 million bulk purchase of the remaining inventory at 2700 North Ocean (a total of 146 units in the 242-unit project). The property converted to The Ritz-Carlton Residences Singer Island, Palm Beach on November 1. Real estate in South Florida continues to struggle but news from this property is strong so far, with only 60 days on the market as a Ritz-Carlton, the property has already logged $20 million in sales.

The opening celebration includes accreted indoor/outdoor art tour featuring works from the private collections of Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz, Ella Cisneros Fontanals, Marvin and Elayne Mordes, Jane Holzer and Beth Rudin DeWoody, as well as pieces on loan from Art Palm Beach by Litvak Gallery and Albert Paley, among others. The event will include the unveiling of the Signature Residence models as well as samplings of food prepared by the property's new chef.

We've seen plenty of houses sell for exorbitant prices in Palm Beach, Florida but 1220 South Ocean stretches the boundaries of spec construction. The Wall Street Journal reports that the French Chateau-style waterfront home was built by Dan Swanson, a high-end developer. The eight-bedroom home has a lakeside dining room, a massive wine cellar, separate guest house, boat dock and a 60-foot heated pool.

The property website says the home is a total of 27,355 square feet (20,129 square feet of air conditioned space). All the finishes are exquisite including marble, antique stone and European oak flooring. The home has a commercial elevator and both a family staircase and a grand marble staircase. The kitchen isn't just a kitchen, it's a complex with a butler's pantry, , walk-in pantry/chef's office, and dedicated staff powder room. The hem has six juice bars, a main service bar and an oak sit-down bar in the garden room. At 4,000 square feet the master suite is larger than most homes and has separate sitting rooms, dressing rooms, bathrooms and multiple balconies.

This home however has lake, not ocean views, making $84 million a bit of an ambitious price in my opinion. Check out the property website here.

The Wall Street Journal reported on another former athlete selling his Florida home. Retired Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Palmer spends most of his time in California so he is trying to unload his home in Palm Beach, Florida. The home slipped onto the market under our radar around a year ago for $3.4 million but is now listed for $2.85 million through Corcoran.

Palmer spent 19 years playing for the Baltimore Orioles. His wife Susan is an interior designer which explains the blandly perfect decor of the home. The pair purchased the 1940-built home in 2001 for $1.6 million and renovated it. The 4,100-square-foot, three bedroom home is about a block from the beach and also has a swimming pool in the back yard which is visible from the glass-surrounded family room.

From now through Oct. 21, Ralph Lauren is auctioning off a number of extraordinary items and experiences to mark the 10th anniversary of Pink Pony, the designer's global initiative to raise awareness and funds in support of the fight against cancer. The online auction, the first of its kind for the Pink Pony cause, is being produced in partnership with luxury charity auction site charitybuzz. Highlights of the incredible event include several once-in-a-lifetime forays into the private world of the famed fashion designer and his luxury empire, including classic cars, polo, chauffeured Bentleys, sexy models and shopping sprees. You check out full details and register to place bids at www.charitybuzz.com/RalphLauren; meanwhile, here are The Classicist's top picks:

1. A private tour of Lauren's incredible car collection, estimated at $150,000: You and a friend will be shown the cars, including the ultra-rare 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic (above), worth an estimated $40 million, a $28 million Ferrari 250 GTO, Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing, McLaren F1LM and more, by Lauren himself at his lavish estate in Bedford, New York. You'll also get a ride in one of these world-class driving machines and take home a signed copy of Speed, Style, and Beauty: Cars from the Ralph Lauren Collection.

2. A weekend at Lauren's private Round Hill Villa in Jamaica, estimated at $150,000: A priceless opportunity to spend four days and three nights for you and up to three guests at the designer's personal Jamaican paradise. The fully staffed villa, which sits on a magnificent, picturesque cliff over the crystal blue Caribbean Sea, has been featured on the covers of House & Garden and Architectural Digest. Enjoy a swim in the villa's infinity pool and private beach access, as well as complimentary tennis lessons and a yoga session.

3. Play polo with Nacho Figueras and stay at The Breakers in Palm Beach, estimated at $15,000: Take a lesson from Nacho Figueras, world class polo player and Ralph Lauren model. You and a guest will refuel afterward during lunch with Nacho, and you'll also spend three nights at the exclusive Breakers hotel in Palm Beach, including a spa treatment for two at the Breakers Spa; a round of golf for two; a $1,000 private shopping experience at the Ralph Lauren store at the Breakers; and VIP access to the U.S. Open at the International Polo Club.

4. Front row seats to the Ralph Lauren fashion show and an outfit from the runway, estimated at $25,000: Bring along a friend when you meet the designer and sit in the elite front row at his Fall 2011 Fashion Show in New York. Then, select your favorite look from the runway to add to your own personal collection. Enjoy two nights at a penthouse suite at The Setai Fifth Avenue hotel, including breakfast for two and one signature spa treatments. [continued]

Last month we told you about Johnny Depp's yacht being offered for charter this summer. If the $130,000 per week he's charging seems a bit steep, you can still cruise like a celebrity aboard the classic Mariner III (above) for a fraction of that price. The stylish 122-ft. fantail motor yacht, built in 1926, appealed to Harrison Ford so much that he used the craft as his personal quarters for three-and-a-half months while filming a movie in the Caribbean. Other stars who have chartered the classic cruiser include Madonna, Kate Winslet, Robert DeNiro, Bruce Willis and Brooke Shields, and she's also played host to several fashion shoots including the Victoria's Secret catalog. Now docked at New York City's Chelsea Piers in the summer months and the Palm Beach Yacht Club in winter, she's available for charter in New England, Southern Florida and the Caribbean at $30,000 a week. With rich varnished teak, gleaming brass, and hand crafted beveled lead crystal windows from Paris adorning the luxe interior, the yacht features seven staterooms plus quarters for a crew of six.

[via JustLuxe]

The latest luxury real estate auction from Concierge Auctions puts a Palm Beach, Florida home on the market for a new low price. The home at 100 Via del Lago was originally listed for $10.75 million but when it goes up for bid on May 22 it will carry a pre-sale estimate of $3.85 million to $4.35 million. The auction has a reserve of $2.95 million.

The four-bedroom home is located on over half an acre in the estate section of Palm Beach and is a short walk from a private beach. The home has four bedrooms with more than 5,500 square feet of living space. The home also has a custom outdoor pool, patio and expansive terrace.

The home is owned by Nancy Mendel, a Palm Beach real estate agent. Mendel is a longtime real estate agent affiliated with Sotheby's' Palm Beach brokerage. She built and later renovated the house on Via Del Lago but lives in another home she owns in Palm Beach and leases the Via Del Lago property which has been on the market about three years.

Many people get frustrated flying over the holidays but not too many people have a meltdown and get dragged off a plane. Ivana Trump was reportedly dragged off a flight headed to New York City on Saturday afternoon at Palm Beach International Airport. The ex-wife of Donald Trump was removed from the plane because she screamed and cursed at children.

According to a piece in the Sun-Sentinel, she was in first class and was angry because children were "running up and down the aisle and screaming." The article goes on to say that flight attendants tried to calm her down by offering her another seat and headphones but she only became more upset. The plane was just about to leave the gate, but like an angry dad in a car, the pilot decided to turn the plane around. She was asked to voluntarily leave the plane, refused, and was physically removed by deputies. Trump hasn't been charged in the incident and her driver picked her up at the airport soon after.

If you'd like to be an author with a nice house, write thrillers. The best author houses I've seen belong to the thriller writers. Today's home in Palm Beach Florida belongs to James B. Patterson. According to the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties column Patterson calls his beautiful home with frontage on the intracoastal waterway the house that Alex Cross built, referring to his popular psychologist main character. Patterson used a wood-paneled office with a water view (outfitted with plenty of Patterson books in the listing pictures) as his writing studio. The turquoise and white kitchen currently decorated with a collection of gleaming copper pots has the type of farmhouse style appeal one doesn't usually see in lavish Palm Beach homes. Outside there is a terrace surrounding a heated pool with spa ,built-in barbecue and a dock with boat lift. This home is listed at $14.95 million.

Patterson is moving his family to an even bigger home, a two-acre Palm Beach estate, with a 20,505-square-foot main house which he picked up for $17.45 million over the summer.

Bernie Madoff's last home may have sold strong, but it looks like the momentum is fading. His home in the Hamptons beat the listing price and ultimately moved for more than $9.4 million. Unfortunately for his victims, interest in his Manhattan penthouse and Palm Beach estate isn't as strong. The prices for both have been cut, as the Ponzi schemer moves from news to history. Both homes have been on the market for only two months.

The Manhattan home, on the Upper East Side, offers 4,000 square feet which the broker, Sotheby's International Realty, says is "perched atop a distinguished white-glove prewar cooperative." Originally offered at $9.9 million, the asking price has been slashed by $1 million. So, if you're looking for some new digs in the city, this should be perched atop your list. A 10 percent price drop after only two months in the game means that you could probably work the price down a little bit further. If you were a Madoff investor, think of it as recouping some of what was so wrongly taken from you.

The situation in Palm Beach, Florida isn't much better. The discount is only 7 percent, with the price plunging from $8.49 million to $7.9 million according to the Corcoran Group, which is handling the sale. This home is billed as "a return to classic Florida island living ... when Palm Beach was a less manicured tropical paradise." What does that mean? Does classical Florida island living have anything to do with defrauding the neighbors?

Madoff, now a resident of Butner, North Carolina, believed that the Manhattan apartment was worth only $7 million. He pegged the Palm Beach residence at $11 million.

When both properties move, the proceeds will go to Madoff's victims. Of the $65 million, roughly, that he took, $1.4 billion is said to have been recovered. Even when compared to the investor losses identified, $21.2 billion, it's but a drop in the bucket. The auction scheduled for Saturday may help a little bit, with Bernie's Mets jacket and Ruth's golf clubs going under the gavel.

The world's most accomplished Ponzi schemer -- right up until he got caught, that is -- finally lost his beach home. Bernie Madoff's Montauk house moved for $9.41 million, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, more than the $8.75 million for which it was listed. It sold on Friday, and the buyer is not being named. It only took a month to make the transaction happen.

Joseph Guccione, U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of New York, calls this "another step forward for the government," and though he didn't mention anything about the victims, one assumes that it's progress for them, too. After all, it would be nice if they got even a taste of this cash.

Several bidders tried to get their hands on Madoff's former home, which measures 3,000 square feet and has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The losers can have another shot at Madoff glory, though, as properties in New York and Palm Beach, Florida, are listed. The former is on the market for $9.9 million, and the latter is listed for $8.49 million.

Madoff was unable to take a last walk through the halls of the Long Island residence, of course, because he's otherwise detained committed in Butner, North Carolina. But, he's adapting, having already thrown down on the block and earned himself some props.

The American International Fine Art Fair in Palm Beach, Fl. is a Luxist Awards' nominee for Best Antiques Resource.

Celebrating its 14th year, the AIFAF features international dealers representing disciplines of fine art from classical antiquity to contemporary, in addition to some of the finest haute and period jewelry in the world. Considered to be the premier art, antique and jewelry fair in the United States, the fair is fully vetted by leading museum curators and experts.

Prestigious exhibitors from more than ten countries offer an extraordinary array of exceptional works of art, antiques and jewelry in America's most glamorous winter destination. This fair has become an annual destination for serious connoisseurs, collectors, and museum curators. It is an event of exceptional quality.

The fair has strict guidelines as to what it will allow to be exhibited. For European ceramics, glass and crystal, for example, the dateline for factory produced items is the 1950s. Objects that are decorated or painted in a later period are not acceptable. Objects, which have been so heavily restored and/or damaged as to change their original nature, function, or the artisan's intention are not acceptable. All restorations or repairs should be mentioned on labels. Pieces with later mounts are not acceptable. The deadline for studio works is also the 1950s.

In 2010, the AIFAF will be held from February 3 to February 8 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

We don't see too many blue houses up for sale, this one has been drenched in a shade of sky that stretches to the chimneys and surrounding walls. The Maurice-Fatio-designed home in Palm Beach, Florida has an fanciful, Easter-egg-like delicacy to it. Fatio designed homes inspired by European nobility and mansions during the 1920 and 1930s. Today's home is located in a prime location near the shops of Worth Avenue and near the beach. It has three bedrooms and a separate guest/staff quarters. The small backyard includes a pool. It is listed at $6.5 million.

Palm Beach has taken its hits over the past year in the wake of Bernie Madoff but now the elite Florida enclave has a new place to welcome guests. The Palm Beach Post reports on the opening of The Omphoy Oean Resort which is a narly $100 million resort on the location of a former Hilton hotel. The resort is designed to combine a peaceful retreat with a bit of South Beach style- an infinity pool and flatscreen televisions contrast with ebony pillars in the lobby and a lounge area with a row of gongs. The restaurant is run by chef Michelle Bernstein who has been denoted as one of the best chefs in the South by the James Beard Foundation. The spa is run by Exhale and offers massages, facials, yoga and more. This hotel is the first major oeceanfront one to open in Palm Beach in a while and the idea is to create a resort that is a newer and more hip option than the venerable grand dames of Palm Beach: The Breakers, The Four Seasons and The Ritz-Carlton. The Omphoy has just 134 rooms and offers more of a boutique hotel experience. The resort has an opening deal that starts at $149 a night (rooms will run in the $400 to $700 range in the winter).