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September 2, 2010 |
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| March 25, 2005 |
By: Paola Iuspa-Abbott |
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318 Caribbean Road
Photo by
Melanie Bell
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few months after his divorce became final, radio personality Rush Limbaugh transferred a Palm Beach home to his ex-wife for $9 million, the same price he paid more than a year ago.
Marta Maranda would likely pocket a hefty profit on a resale, which seems possible because she has moved to Coral Gables. Whether she will flip the 65-year-old house at 318 Caribbean Road or build a new home there remains to be seen.
In December, Limbaugh and Maranda divorced in Key West after 10 years of marriage. The details of their dissolution were made public last week, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Limbaugh and Maranda could not be reached for comment.
Attorney John B. McCracken, who prepared the warranty deed filed with the Palm Beach County Clerk of Court, declined to comment. McCracken is a shareholder in the West Palm Beach firm Jones Foster Johnston & Stubbs.
Limbaugh’s sale was part of the couple’s agreement, according to the Post’s report and several Palm Beach brokers who asked not to be named.
“It was part of the divorce settlement,” said one broker after being told of the sale.
Limbaugh sacrificed a large profit given that properties on the island have appreciated as much as 35 percent annually during the past two years.
Limbaugh bought the waterfront property in October 2003 without inspecting the interior of the house, brokers said at that time.
“It is a nice piece of property,” said Palm Beach broker Paulette Koch, vice president of sales for New York-based Corcoran Group. She was not involved in this transaction but is familiar with the property. “The house is not in such a great condition. It needs to be totally renovated or knocked down and built from scratch.”
The property is in the north end of the barrier island in a neighborhood with few homes and little traffic, said Palm Beach broker John Pinson, president of John D. Pinson Inc. He was not involved in the sale.
“It is a great location for someone with a yacht,” he said. “It is not where the [Intracoastal] current hits. The water doesn’t move fast.”
City code would allow construction of a home of up to 10,000 square feet on the property, he said.
City officials are considering reducing the size of the houses built in smaller lots away from the water to preserve the character of neighborhoods at that end of the island.
Owners of waterfront parcels would not be affected, Pinson said.
The home is one of several properties that Limbaugh and his former wife started acquiring in 1998. They began with a 12,000-square-foot mansion at 1495 N. Ocean Blvd. that became their primary home.
They later added three contiguous parcels, building a three-acre compound on the Atlantic Ocean and few blocks away from what is now Maranda’s property on Caribbean Road.
One of the parcels within the compound is owned by Limbaugh Marta Trust. The main residence on North Ocean Boulevard is owned by her trust and Limbaugh’s RH Trust, according to Palm Beach County records.
The conservative radio host broke the news about the divorce last June during his nationally syndicated show. The announcement came at about the same time that the state attorney in Palm Beach County launched an investigation into whether Limbaugh had broken state laws regarding the purchase of painkillers. Limbaugh’s drug addiction became public in mid-2003 as a result of published reports, and later he admitted his drug problem on his show.
He said he began using painkillers in the mid-1990s after spinal surgery and that he had entered a rehabilitation program. Limbaugh has not been charged with a crime and after a brief absence from the airwaves, he came back to his ever-forgiving listeners.
The state attorney’s office’s investigation is pending.
Paola Iuspa-Abbott can be reached at piuspa@floridabiz.com or at (305) 347-6657.
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