Palm Beach homes for sale: New house with classic details priced at $41.9M, furnished

Before Jagbir Singh and his wife, Sarla, moved to South Florida in 2011, their estate was an 85-acre compound in Bernardsville, New Jersery, which comprised five homes. 

“We were used to living in a very spacious, very private place,” explains Jagbir Singh. 

With that in mind, they chose an estate in Manalapan on a large lot. Then in 2014, they looked north to Palm Beach and bought the late Gertrude Maxwell Hurwitz’s estate at 1700 S. Ocean Blvd., eyeing it as a possible home for their son and his family. 

Sarla was immediately smitten with the Palm Beach house, her husband recalls. The property looked east to the ocean on South Ocean Boulevard at the entrance to Parc Monceau, an enclave built in the early 1960s by the late developer Clarence Mack in his signature Palm Beach Regency architectural style. 

The house also appealed to Jagbir. 

“It’s a beautiful lot with a nice house that we thought we could rehab, but unfortunately, we found that it was not salvageable. It was not structurally sound at all, and we were worried some accident would happen,” Jagbir recalls. 

At that point, the Singhs decided that demolishing the existing house and building a new home would be a better option, and in 2019, after ironing out details with the town’s Architectural Commission, they began construction. Headed by architect Jacqueline Albarran of SKA Architecture & Planner, the team included Lynn Bender Landscape Architect, general contractor Mark Timothy Inc. and Marc-Michaels Design Group for the interior design. 

From the archives: Palm Beach board OKs houses, including one for Singh property 

In the meantime, the Singhs’ son decided to keep his children in school in New Jersey, so the just-completed house has been listed for sale. With six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, three half-baths and 10,586 square feet of living space, inside and out, the home is priced at $41.9 million. The price includes the furniture, and William Raveis South Florida agent Shelly Newman has the listing. 

“I have managed the construction of this house from acquisition to completion,” Jagbir says, but notes that the project showcased the combined efforts of the professionals involved. 

“Our team tried to incorporate the best planning, designs and systems into this project.” 

With engineering degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology and a master’s degree from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Jagbir leads multiple international design and construction projects, he explains. He also founded SUJANI Enterprises Inc., a global distributor of electrical steel. 

 “We put the best experience behind this home in designing and building it,” he says. 

One of its highlights? The house is constructed of reinforced concrete from top to bottom, “which is best for hurricanes, earthquakes and even nuclear shelters,” Jagbir says.

Architecture nods at neighborhood

About a half-mile north of Sloan’s Curve, the house stands on the northeast corner of Parc Monceau, an ocean-to-lake cul-de-sac. Two of the seven houses face the ocean, while three are directly on the lakefront. With a gated driveway off Parc Monceau, the property at 1700 S. Ocean Blvd. encompasses six-tenths of an acre, including its beach parcel across the coastal road. 

The neighborhood recalls the look of Regents Park, a designated historic district developed by Mack off South Ocean Boulevard near Mar-a-Lago. 

Albarran designed the Singhs' house with details of the Palm Beach Regency style, which include a flat roof embellished with a series of ornamental motifs at the roofline, a symmetrical façade, classical moldings and a balcony with bulbous balustrades. 

On the ground floor, east of the foyer and stair hall, are the study, living room and family room, all with French doors opening to the oceanview loggia overlooking the salt-water pool and gardens. 

On the west side are the guest bedroom suite and the kitchen, which offers access to the garage. Between the kitchen and family room is the formal dining room. 

Featured throughout are marble floors — although some rooms are carpeted — along with custom molding treatments. The office has a coffered ceiling. The floor in the dining room mixes wood and marble, with walls covered in decorative paper. 

The well-equipped kitchen has a quartzite-topped center island, painted and stained cabinets, quartz counters and professional-grade appliances. 

Upstairs are four guest suites along with the southeast-exposure master bedroom, which has an oceanview balcony. The master suite also includes a sitting room, a “morning bar,” a custom-fitted closet and two marble-appointed  bathrooms. The guest bathrooms are finished in either marble or quartz.

State-of-the-art technology

The site slopes down from the east, and Albarran took advantage of the topography to give the house three levels. The lowest features a wine room, a bar, a gym and a billiard room with a lounge and club room. 

The house has the latest technology, adds Jagbir, including  the air-conditioning system which has nine air-handling units and two condensers. 

“It’s very modern and environmentally friendly, with the latest technology. It was more costly but good for the neighbors, with less machines outside,” he says. “And, of course, the house has a whole-house generator.” 

The house may be state-of-the-art and built for modern living, Jagbir says, but its architecture also gives a respectful nod at its stately neighbors in one of Palm Beach’s most distinctive neighborhoods.