Business & Finance
Palm Beach Couple Sells Renovated Everglades Island Estate for $25.4 Million
Cornelia ‘Cornie’ Thornburgh and her husband, Richard, sold their renovated lakefront mansion and guest house on Everglades Island in the Intracoastal Waterway, the Palm Beach Post reported. The house at 550 Island Drive was listed at $24.9 million, according to the multiple listing service. The deed, recorded on Jan. 10, 2025, shows a price of $25.4 million. The buyer is 260N Property Limited Partnership, registered in Manitoba and using a mailing address at an office building in Toronto. The buyer already owns land across town: a four‑bedroom house at 260 N. Woods Road, purchased for about $6.28 million in September 2020, and an empty lot next door at 254 N. Woods Road, bought for $9.25 million in March 2022. That lot is about a third of an acre. The house and lot are now on the market together for $22.9 million, the listing service shows. Agent Jim McCann of Premier Estate Properties holds that listing and also represented the buyer in the Island Drive deal.
The Island Drive estate did not sell quickly. The agents, Liza Pulitzer and Whitney McGurk of Brown Harris Stevens, first listed it in April 2023 at $39 million. After several price cuts, its final price landed about $13.6 million below that first asking price. The Thornburghs bought the property in 2014 for $9 million. Built in 1955, the mansion sits on about half an acre, with 150 feet of frontage on the canal that separates the island from the Everglades Golf Course. They felt the mansion needed a gut renovation. “This house was dated and a bit of a wreck. We saw that it was a project, but we also knew it was a special place,” Cornie Thornburgh told the Palm Beach Daily News in 2023.
The couple hired architect Jacqueline Albarran of SKA Architect+Planners and contractor Tim Givens of Tim Givens Building & Remodeling Inc. The team changed the layout of the main house considerably but kept the focus on the water views and the thick mangroves along the golf course. “Not one thing went untouched,” Thornburgh said in the same interview.
After the renovations, the main house now has five bedrooms, four on the ground floor, a den, and access to a two‑car garage. The living and dining rooms open to a poolside lanai. The main suite is upstairs and has a balcony facing the water. Wide‑plank hardwood floors run through the rooms, and vaulted ceilings in limed wood are another highlight. The mansion also has gas fireplaces in the living room and lanai. The kitchen has custom cabinets and high‑end appliances. A two‑bedroom guest house and cabana building also sit nearby. After the renovations, the couple named the property Pelican Strait.
The Thornburghs were keen on hosting parties, and their entertaining space can host about 100 people. “We have had parties here for 100 people, and now the house flows well. In so many big houses, you ramble around, but this house is cosy and comfortable when there’s no kids around and it’s just the two of us,” the couple said.
The Thornburghs had to downsize, so they moved to a 1920s bungalow at 159 Australian Ave., just east of the police headquarters near Town Hall. They bought the historic home in 2023 from Amy Tarrant for $8.12 million. The 4,436‑square‑foot home has five bedrooms. The town gave it landmark protection in 2013, and earlier owners won an award from the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach for restoring it. Elizabeth Woody of Compass Florida represented both sides of that sale.
Prior to owning the mansion on Island Drive, the couple owned another landmarked house, a 1923 villa on Golfview Road. Richard Thornburgh, a senior adviser at private‑equity firm Corsair Capital LLC, also has ties to New York, but the latest tax rolls list the Island Drive house as their main home. The estate is the seventh house north of the short bridge that links Everglades Island to the rest of town through Island Road. The island runs three‑quarters of a mile along the Intracoastal Waterway, in the town’s Estate Section.
Frequently asked questions
What was the final sale price of the Everglades Island estate?
The deed recorded on Jan. 10, 2025 shows a price of $25.4 million.
Who purchased the renovated mansion on Everglades Island?
260N Property Limited Partnership, registered in Manitoba and using a mailing address at an office building in Toronto, bought the property.
What renovations were made to the mansion?
Architect Jacqueline Albarran and contractor Tim Givens redesigned the layout, added five bedrooms, a den, a two‑car garage, a poolside lanai, updated kitchen with custom cabinets and high‑end appliances, and preserved water views.