Pop rocker Jon Bon Jovi is resisting attempts to buy him out of his $43 million Florida home from a mystery purchaser who’s already snapped up four other properties in the neighbourhood worth a whopping $250 million.
The unidentified buyer, or group of buyers, has acquired the properties on the uber-exclusive North Ocean Boulevard in Palm Beach, just a short drive north of President Donald Trump’s beloved Mar-a-Lago resort, the Wall Street Journal reports.
These apparently include at least two oceanfront plots that previously belonged to William Lauder, billionaire heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics empire, before he sold them on in February for what the newspaper reports was likely close to his asking price of $200 million.
Bon Jovi, whose multimillion-dollar pad sits just next door to the property formerly owned by Lauder, has apparently turned down repeated offers to buy him out of his home. A spokesperson for the musician declined to comment to the Journal on the identity of the mystery buyer.
Earlier this month, the buyer acquired a $18 million house across the street, previously owned by Cathleen Black, former chair of Hearst Magazines, and her husband. Then, this week, a company tied to the purchaser acquired another property, worth $30 million, just next door.
Local real estate agents told the Journal the prices at which these properties were sold stand significantly higher than what they might otherwise have fetched at market rates.
Records suggest the Delaware-registered company behind the purchase of the four properties traces back to Greyson Blue, a lawyer in Seattle who works on behalf of K&L Gates, a group in turn linked to Bill Gates’ father, according to the report.
While that may give rise to speculation that the recent purchases may have been made by any one of a handful of Microsoft-tied billionaires, such as Gates, Charles Simonyi, or Steve Ballmer, a source with ties to the Gates Foundation told the Journal that Gates himself is not behind the acquisitions.
