Just 10 miles south of Palm Beach, the Florida town of Manalapan once served as a rival winter retreat for the likes of the Vanderbilts and the Rockefellers before being overshadowed by its bigger, more glamorous neighbor.
Then a new cadre of wealthy residents arrived — with none making a bigger splash than Larry Ellison.
The Oracle Corp. co-founder has spent at least $450 million on real estate in Manalapan since 2022, property records show, through purchases of a 16-acre estate and a 309-room hotel that locals speculate he’ll turn into an ultraluxury resort. Ellison has also explored bringing some of his business and philanthropy to the Palm Beach area, said a person familiar with the matter.
The world’s fifth-richest person — with a fortune of $172 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index — is well-known for his lavish property portfolio, from historic Rhode Island estates to a collection of Malibu mansions to the Hawaiian island of Lanai. But his purchases in Manalapan are playing an outsized role in the town of just over 400 people, fueling a real estate boom and adding to the flood of wealth that has rippled across South Florida since the pandemic.
After Ellison’s purchase of his $173 million estate — which set a Florida record — a local developer decided to build a mansion next door with an even loftier asking price: $285 million. Hedge fund billionaire Chris Rokos is asking $150 million for a nearby property, more than triple what he paid in 2017.
The sky-high listings have pushed the average asking price for a Manalapan single-family home to almost $60 million as of mid-March — the most of any town in the US, according to data compiled by Zillow.
“Ellison has provided great momentum for the town,” said Nick Malinosky, the broker on the $285 million listing. “My clients looking at Manalapan are very interested in what he’ll do with the hotel.”
Representatives for Oracle, where Ellison remains chairman, didn’t respond to comment, nor did a spokesperson for the billionaire’s family office.
Ellison, 80, is the latest billionaire to make his mark in Florida with both money and influence. In recent years, the state has drawn ultrawealthy residents including Jeff Bezos and Ken Griffin, who have also snatched up waterfront lots to build sprawling compounds. Developer Stephen Ross relocated to Palm Beach during the pandemic and has sought to transform neighboring West Palm Beach into his vision of a “model city.” And Florida has become a center of political power thanks to President Donald Trump, whose Mar-a-Lago residence is just up the road from Manalapan.
Manalapan, ed on a barrier island that’s also home to Palm Beach, is accessed from the mainland via the modest suburb of Lantana, which has roots as a community for workers serving the nearby ultrawealthy residents. Until the 1960s, people of color were only permitted on to the island for work.
With some exceptions, a stark contrast remains. Lantana’s median household income is $70,000, and inland Palm Beach County has cities with poverty rates as high as 40%. A short drive from Ellison’s hotel leads to neon green bungalows selling key lime pie and motels with $100 nightly rates. In the strip mall across the street, a Publix, Florida’s ubiquitous grocer known for its $8 sandwiches, caters to the throes of not-so-rich tourists and construction workers around town.
But once visitors cross a small drawbridge over the intracoastal lagoon, they’re greeted with waterfront estates and private docks jutting into water. The road leads straight to the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, the town’s largest structure and employer. Ellison — who beyond his many residences owns luxury retreats including the Four Seasons Resort Lanai, the Nobu Ryokan Malibu and the Sensei Porcupine Creek near California’s Palm Desert — bought the property in August for $277 million.
For Manalapan, the question now is just how long the boom can last with ballooning prices, a sputtering stock market and concerns about the economy as the Trump administration enacts tariffs. And even as home sellers ask for eye-popping prices, they may just represent a starting point, said Daryl Fairweather, the chief economist of Redfin.
“It's not priced until it sells,” she said. Along with the volatile economy and sinking markets, she noted that waterfront homes in Florida face huge risk and high insurance costs due to hurricanes and flooding.
Still, Manalapan offers waterfront views, expansive lots and more privacy than most parts of the South Florida coast. And many of the outside factors have little effect on ultrawealthy buyers who can be “capricious” about what they value,” Fairweather said.
“At a certain point," he said, "money kind of loses meaning.”