A resort in Palm Beach, 7 miles from Mar-A-Lago

Oracle founder Larry Ellison, whose net price of $163.7 billion ranks him fifth within the Forbes‘ list of the world’s richest people, has bought the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, a 309-room luxury beachfront hotel south of Palm Beach, for an undisclosed price estimated at greater than $300 million, people acquainted with the transaction told the Palm Beach Daily News.

The seller, London-based enterprise capital firm Lewis Trust Group, bought the hotel for $67.5 million in 2003 when it was still a Ritz-Carlton. The property was renamed Eau Palm Beach a decade later and is operated as a part of the Preferred Hotels & Resorts Legend Collection. It contains a Five-star rating from the Forbes travel guide.

“Our family is honored to have been a successful part of Eau Palm Beach’s history,” said Simon Lewis, principal of the Lewis Trust Group, in an announcement. “While we regret that our tenure is coming to an end, we are pleased to know that Larry Ellison will cherish the resort and lead its hoteliers to even greater heights.”

Eau Palm Beach is just the most recent addition to Ellison’s real estate and luxury hotel portfolio, which has Forbes valued it at $1 billion in 2021. Two years ago, Ellison bought a 63,200-square-foot private mansion on 1,200 feet of waterfront in Palm Beach from tech billionaire Jim Clark for $173 million. It was the costliest home sale within the Sunshine State’s history.

Ellison also owns 4 properties in Newport, Rhode Island, including the previous Astor mansion referred to as Beechwood, which he bought for $10.5 million in 2010 and spent one other $100 million converting right into a museum to accommodate his art collection. He then bought three neighboring homes along Newport’s posh Bellevue Avenue, in keeping with The Newport Daily News.

In 2012, Ellison bought 98 percent of the 29-kilometer-long Hawaiian island of Lanai from Dole Food CEO David Murdock for $300 million.

In California, Ellison also owns several homes on Billionaires Beach in Malibu and a personal estate in Woodside, California, modeled after a Sixteenth-century Japanese imperial palace.

Then there’s Ellison’s growing hotel portfolio. In Hawaii he owns the Four Seasons Resort Lanai and Sensei Lanai. In California he owns Hotel Nobu Ryokan Malibu; Nobu Hotel Palo Alto; Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe (purchased for a reported $345 million); and the 230-acre Sensei Porcupine Creek in Rancho Mirage, California.

ForbesLarry Ellison’s private golf resort is now considered one of the most important recent hotels of 2022From Larry Olmsted

Ellison’s newest gem – situated on the beach at Eastover, the historic Vanderbilt estate – has undergone many developments over the a long time. From the Nineteen Fifties to the late Nineteen Seventies, Eau Palm Beach was the location of the La Coquille Club, a well-liked beachside playground for celebrities similar to the Vanderbilt, Rockefeller and Ford families, in addition to U.S. presidents and foreign dignitaries. The club was later demolished to make way for the Ritz-Carlton Palm Beach, which opened within the early Nineties.

The 3.2-acre resort features two oceanfront swimming pools, nine restaurants and bars, a fitness center, a game room, tennis courts, a 3700-square-foot spa and 2800 square feet of conference space. There is a kid’s playroom and splash pool, in addition to stand-up paddle boarding, snorkeling and browsing lessons.

For a weekend in September, rates for a 400-square-foot inland-facing guestroom start at $467 per night before taxes and costs, while ocean-view rooms start at $754 per night. An 800-square-foot ocean-view suite with two bathrooms and a personal veranda costs $2,769 per night.

During the Trump administration, the resort was occasionally a haven for foreign dignitaries. reported The Palm Beach PostIn April 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife stayed on the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, about seven miles north on Florida’s A1A, during a two-day summit.

Ellison intends to retain the resort’s current management team. “We are excited about the Ellison family’s acquisition,” said Tim Nardi, General Manager of Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa. “Ellison’s extensive experience in the luxury hotel industry brings a new level of innovation to the resort and we are confident that this transition will not only enhance the unique experiences we offer, but also introduce new amenities and services to ensure Eau Palm Beach remains a premier destination for our valued guests.”