Daily News Real Estate Writer
For the first time ever, an owner of a Palm Beach estate will pay more than $2 million in property taxes, thanks to the 2015 tax roll recently certified by the state.
Luckily for him, the fellow involved has deep pockets. It’s Chicago hedge-funder Ken Griffin, who owns 9.3 acres on the South End’s Billionaires Row and whose worth is estimated by Forbes at $3.1 billion.
Griffin is among at least 39 Palm Beach property owners who have been billed more than $500,000 each for their 2015 taxes, according to data compiled by the Palm Beach Daily News from tax bills viewable on Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne M. Gannon’s website.
»INTERACTIVE MAP: Palm Beach’s highest-taxed estates 2015
Based on property values assigned Jan. 1 by Property Appraiser Gary Nikolits’ office, the 2015 tax roll was certified Oct. 10. Individual bills were mailed on Halloween.
Griffin has been assessed a grand total of $2.23 million in taxes on his oceanfront estate’s five separate properties on Blossom Way, a quarter-mile south of the Southern Boulevard traffic circle. He bought four of the properties, including three houses, in late 2012 for nearly $130 million. But he has never built himself a new residence, even though the town has granted him permission to demolish two of the remaining homes there. A spokeswoman for Griffin declined to comment for this story.