An LLC tied to a South Florida auto dealer has sold a nearly 2-acre lake-to-ocean homesite in Manalapan for $30 million, a price that more than quadrupled the property's value over the past decade. The lot at 1820 South Ocean Boulevard runs from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Atlantic and sits just down the street from Fox News host Sean Hannity's oceanfront home.
MGM Designs LLC, managed by Ralph Gesualdo, sold the property, according to The Real Deal. Gesualdo's firm originally bought the site from Robert Steinberg for $7 million back in 2015, and the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser had it valued at $19.1 million this year before the sale closed. The lot had been asking $35 million and includes a boat dock built in 1988 and a cabana dating to 1969.
The buyer is linked to Maura Ziska of Kochman & Ziska, a Palm Beach-based attorney, though she declined to comment on what The Real Deal's report describes as an off-market deal. Broker Jack Elkins, who represented the seller, described Manalapan to the outlet as the “next billionaire's bunker” for its privacy and exclusivity. Elkins is not the only observer to frame the town this way — the description fits a pattern of ultra-wealthy buyers racing to lock down land on the narrow barrier island.
A Street Already Crowded With Billionaires
The sale adds to a striking run of activity on South Ocean Boulevard. Gesualdo also sold a nearby home at 1920 South Ocean Boulevard to WeatherTech founder David MacNeil, with that deal recorded at $36 million in July 2026 — a price Gesualdo had bought the property for under $12 million back in 2020, per the same Real Deal report. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, meanwhile, expanded his own Manalapan holdings with a nearby 2.2-acre property, paying $34.4 million for it this year.
Ellison already owns a 16-acre compound in the town, purchased for $173 million in 2022, and his footprint extends well beyond residential land. In August 2024, he acquired the 310-room Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa and an adjacent 2.8-acre parking lot for $277.39 million, according to The Real Deal. That resort houses La Coquille Club, a private oceanfront club dating to the 1950s that comes with membership privileges for Manalapan homeowners in a town incorporated in 1931 by Commodore Harold Vanderbilt, according to Nadine Fite.
MacNeil's Own Landmaxxing Spree
MacNeil hasn't stopped at 1920 South Ocean. In July 2026 he completed a $136.3 million buying run across three contiguous Manalapan properties — 1940 South Ocean for $68.3 million, 1920 South Ocean for $36 million, and a 2.15-acre slice of 1960 South Ocean for $32 million — assembling a 5.8-acre ocean-to-lake compound, as reported by The Real Deal. That 1960 South Ocean parcel came from former Manalapan Mayor Stewart Satter, who sold his 4-acre ocean-to-Intracoastal lot for $67 million to trusts tied to Ellison and MacNeil, abandoning his own plan to build a single $285 million spec megamansion there, according to The Coastal Star. Hoodline previously reported on that split in its piece on billionaire neighbors sealing a sand gap.
MacNeil has also been active on the selling side. In April 2026 he set a town land-sale record by unloading a 3.6-acre ocean-to-lake vacant lot at 1120 South Ocean Boulevard for $105 million, nearly tripling its value from two years earlier, per homes.com. Hoodline's earlier coverage detailed how MacNeil first landed his Manalapan foothold with a $16 million price cut on 1940 South Ocean.
Why Raw Land Beats Finished Mansions
The pattern across these deals points to a clear dynamic in Manalapan: raw, buildable land commands a premium over move-in-ready estates. Manalapan has only about 60 total ocean-to-Intracoastal lots along South Ocean Boulevard, a scarcity that Roi Danon says drives multi-parcel assemblages among ultra-wealthy buyers.
Finished mansions can linger. Musician Billy Joel sold his 13,349-square-foot oceanfront Manalapan estate for $42.6 million in October 2024 after listing it on and off for six years and cutting his asking price by $22 million from a peak of $64.9 million, according to SFGate. By contrast, mechanical contractor executives Ronald and Cindy McMackin sold their 22,900-square-foot ocean-to-lake mansion at 1660 South Ocean Boulevard for $70.9 million in June 2026, nearly doubling what they paid in 2020, showing that even finished homes can command steep prices when the underlying lot has dual water frontage.
Sean Hannity, who owns 1840 South Ocean and bought it for $23.5 million in 2024, is among the boldface names anchoring the corridor. Nearby, 1800 South Ocean sold for $25 million in 2025, and Manalapan recorded the highest single-family luxury price threshold in South Florida during the first quarter of 2026 at $68.5 million, outpacing enclaves across Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.
A Wider Wave of Wealth Migration
The buying isn't limited to tech and media figures. In October 2024, customer experience executive Anthony Marlowe purchased an estate at 3090 South Ocean Boulevard for nearly $20 million from oil heiress Jean Christine Thompson, part of what Forbes describes as a wave of out-of-state CEOs relocating their primary residences to the island. That trend, combined with the scarcity of dual-waterfront lots, helps explain why a nearly 2-acre parcel zoned for low-density residential use could quadruple in value in just over a decade.
Hoodline has also tracked comparable deals nearby, including the $52 million sea-to-lake mega mansion bought by Frank and Dolores Mennella, and MacNeil's separate move to offload a Fort Lauderdale property as he consolidated his Manalapan footprint. Together, the deals illustrate how a small number of billionaires are steadily buying up the municipal land base of one of South Florida's most exclusive addresses.
