NEIGHBORHOOD: Palm Beach County

Even though Palm Beach is a bastion of old money and old-world wealth, its oldest buildings are barely over a hundred years in age, when Henry Flagler brought his railroad to the undeveloped barrier island and built the Royal Poinciana Hotel in 1894. But not long after that, this house was built.

Located on just under an acre of land, extremely close to the sweeping Lake Worth views of S. Flagler Drive, but on a leafy and extremely quiet dead-end street, this Balinese compound was built in 1950, yet has been thoroughly updated for contemporary life. Located at 250 Essex Lane, does that updating, along with the obscene excesses of today's real estate market, justify a $22 million price tag, however?

Just a few months ago, this 10,000 square foot Palm Beach estate on a sweeping piece of property facing Lake Worth sold for a whopping $55 million, which any sane person might think was an impressive enough price tag, after having been on the market for about five months. But this is how over-the-top the current real estate market is. The house appears to have been almost immediately whallopped back onto the market, with a new listing price of $79 million. If that brash of a flip isn't proof we live in truly bizarre real estate times, than what is?

Designed by its owners, husband-and-wife architectural team Derek and Lisa Vander Ploeg, this 4,800 square foot Boca Raton house was inspired by the organic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. Although they skipped some of the more ornery aspects of Frank Lloyd Wright's designs, like how he had a habit of custom-designing everything from the building, to the furniture inside it, and even sometimes the silverware, the house still oozes with Wrightian details.

At the dawn of the new year, just nine days ago, this extensively renovated Palm Beach regency-style property, hit the market for an eye-watering $17.8 million. Originally built in 1970, every inch of the house looks like it's brand-spankin' new, decorated gorgeously, to the umpteenth degree. It's listed by Christopher Leavitt, one of the brokers on the short-lived reality show Million Dollar Listing Miami (boy that feels like a million years ago), which explains what he's doing with his time these days. He must have absconded from Miami. Zillow says most of his listings are that-a-way.

El Solano, the Palm Beach estate once owned by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, has hit the market for a whopping $47.5 million. Lennon bought the house in January 1980, and spent the winter living there. He was killed in December of that year. After proceeding with the home renovation she and Lennon planned together, Ono eventually sold it in 1986.

I recently toured the Kip's Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach for Architectural Digest. Here's my take on this fantastical subtropical oasis.

West Palm Beach is getting a new design-y hotel called the Ben West Palm, slated for opening on February 13th 2020, the day before Valentine's day. The 208 room hotel appears to be inspired by early Floridian history, with an interior design that evokes adventure and tropical escapism. While the public spaces are richly decorated, the guest room interiors will be light and airy, with cream-colored fabrics, leather headboards, and copper fixtures.

This home and studio, located in Phipp's Plaza, a residential and commercial plaza with central green space in the center of Palm Beach, is the home and studio of modern-day interior designer Scott Snyder, and was the home and studio of Marion Sims Wyeth, an architect who designed many notable projects around South Florida in the freewheeling 1920s.

The Related Companies, the New York-based developer of the massive Hudson Yards in New York, and sister company to the Related Group, that Miami-based megadeveloper, is bringing a few substantial new projects to Downtown West Palm Beach. On May 16th the Related Companies broke ground on 360 Rosemary, an upscale office building adjacent to the Virgin train station, and concurrently to that they announced 575 Rosemary, a mixed use tower, and One Flagler, another office building, heading for the area.