Two mansions, one deal

An unidentified buyer from Texas bought both homes, with a combined sale price of more than $25 million.

Texan forks over $25M.

Two South Florida mansions — one in Fort Lauderdale; the other, Manalapan — have been sold to an unidentified buyer from Texas for a combined total of more than $25 million.

Steven Solomon, of Douglas Elliman Real Estate, represented the buyer in both deals, which closed May 19, and the seller on the Fort Lauderdale house.

“Each of these luxurious residences undoubtedly offer exceptional investment opportunities that our buyer recognized,” Solomon wrote in an email to the Sun Sentinel. “The buyer was particularly attracted to the significant water frontage, ample acreage and refined finishes of both homes.”

The registered deed belonging to a home at 2900 NE 37th St. in Fort Lauderdale shows that Esther Lambert sold the home to Christy 2017 LP, a Texas corporation. David G. Drumm is listed as the registered agent. Drumm, a partner at Carrington Coleman, a Dallas law firm, did not immediately respond to a telephone call and email.

The Fort Lauderdale sale, at $11.8 million, sets the record as the most expensive Fort Lauderdale Intracoastal single-family home sale in the past three years, according to a Douglas Elliman news release.

The Fort Lauderdale mansion, built in 2004, has seven bedrooms and 16 bathrooms. It occupies one acre and features a 102-foot pool with swim-up grilling station and water slide, as well as a waterfall and grotto. The interior showcases a wet bar, ballet room, martial arts room, beauty salon and a two-story foyer with twin staircases. There is also a grand lodge-style gathering room with a fireplace and built-in fish tank.

Broward County property records show that Esther Lambert, and her then-husband, Daniel, bought the home in 2000 for $1.25 million. Esther Lambert received full ownership of the home for $7 million in 2009, after the couple divorced.

Although no deed of sale yet appears in Palm Beach County court records for the Manalapan transaction, Solomon says he also represented the same buyer in the $13.5 million sale. Gary Pohrer and Michael Costello, also of Douglas Elliman, worked with the seller.

Located at 3090 S. Ocean Blvd., the house features a theater room, pool, fitness room and wine cellar, as well as a private dock and boat lift. There is also a separate oceanfront

cottage. Built in 2000, the estate is situated on nearly two acres between the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal, north of the Boynton Inlet.

Palm Beach property records show the home was last sold to George and Sandra Valassis in 2006 for $10.3 million.

George Valassis is the founder of Valassis, a direct mail and digital advertising company headquartered in Michigan. He began the operation in 1970.

According to the company’s website, the firm connects some 58,000 local, regional and national advertisers and merchants with consumers nationwide. Among its print products, South Floridians will recognize the Clipper and RedPlum publications — both sent directly to consumers by mail.

COURTESY The home at 3090 S. Ocean Blvd. in Manalapan features a theater room, pool, fitness room and wine cellar.

DOUGLAS ELLIMAN/COURTESY The home at 2900 NE 37th St. in Fort Lauderdale has a 102-foot pool with swim-up grilling station and water slide, as well as a waterfall and grotto.