Condo, Marina sold on Singer Island in Palm Beach Shores
Located south of the Blue Heron Bridge and just north of the popular Sailfish Marina, Cannonsport is a place for boaters, with unobstructed access to Palm Beach Inlet leading to the ocean.
Office towers in downtown West Palm Beach, real estate development
New office towers in downtown West Palm Beach, or those already completed, such as 360 Rosemary, have attracted about 100 companies since 2019 to Palm Beach County.
Greg Lovett, Palm Beach Post
The Cannonsport condominium and marina in Palm Beach Shores traded earlier this month for $58.5 million to an investor, a sale that reflects how far the bustling real estate market has reached sleepy Palm Beach County towns.
Two entities linked to investor J. Jay Lobell have purchased the Intracoastal Waterway site at 176 Lake Drive from affiliates of Nationwide Realty Investors, according to a deed filed Monday (Oct. 30) with the Palm Beach County Clerk’s Office.
Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Realty Investors, the development arm of Nationwide Insurance, purchased the Singer Island property in 2004 for $10.5 million from the Mills family.
Nationwide then demolished an old hotel to create a three-story, 36-unit apartment complex.
The apartments were completed at the height of the recession in the mid-2000s, when the real estate market collapsed. This led to Nationwide leasing the units as apartments instead. According to the Cannonsport website, berth slips were also available for rent.
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Cannonsport Marina in Palm Beach Shores is very popular with boaters
Cannonsport, south of the Blue Heron Bridge and north of the popular Sailfish Marina, is a favorite spot for boaters, with unobstructed access to Palm Beach Inlet leading to the Atlantic Ocean. From the private Canonsport Marina, the western tip of the Bahamas is only 55 miles away, according to the marina’s website.
Over the past 20 years, demand for waterfront properties and marina space in Palm Beach County has increased, and people moving to Florida from colder climates have become particularly eager to live on or near the water.
Tiny Palm Beach Shores, a quiet community of single-family homes and mostly older condominiums on the southern tip of Singer Island, is not immune to the boom.
This summer, pre-construction sales began at The Pearl, a luxury apartment complex being built at 123 Ocean Ave. Residence prices for the 18-unit condo range from $4 million to $7.5 million. The property was formerly the Seaspray Inn and Beach Resort.
It’s unclear whether Lobell plans to make any changes to the Cannonsport property or the marina, including demolishing existing residences to build a larger complex. He did not respond to emails seeking comment.
But Palm Beach Shores Mayor Alan Fears said the zoning is too restrictive. Buildings can have parking at ground floor level, then three floors above it.
“They might try to go up a little bit,” Fears said. “Many have failed. Many have failed.”
Lobel’s company, JSB Capital, recently moved its headquarters to Miami Beach from New York. The company owns an extensive portfolio of properties, including 40,000 square feet of retail space on Worth Street, according to its website.
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The new owner can only upgrade the units and sell them as condos, said Palm Beach County developer Dan Catalfumo, who built the Cannonsport housing for Nationwide.
“It’s a gem,” Catalfumo said of the waterfront location.
The two- and three-bedroom units at Cannonsport range in size from 1,823 to 2,662 square feet. Residences overlook Cannonsport Marina, Peanut Island and the Intracoastal.
Alexandra Clough is a business writer and columnist for the Palm Beach Post. You can contact her at aclough@pbpost.com. Twitter: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
