Million-dollar listings: A deed recorded Wednesday shows Michael Burns has bought a contemporary-style house with Dutch Colonial architectural influences for $6.75 million at 152 Dolphin Road on the North End of Palm Beach. The sellers, Dr. Joseph and Andrew Huainigg, built the house as a custom home.
An Austrian-based real estate entrepreneur and his interior designer wife have sold, for a recorded $6.75 million, the custom home they completed in 2017 on the far North End of Palm Beach.
Dr. Josef and Andrea Huainigg sold 152 Dolphin Road, their contemporary-style house with Dutch architectural influences. The sale price documented Wednesday by the Palm Beach County Clerk’s office nearly hit the property’s $6.95 million asking price in the local multiple listing service.
The deed lists Michael Burns as the buyer. With a home in Winnetka, Illinois, Burns is married to Caroline G. Burns, according to Palm Beach County courthouse records.
Michael Burns is president and CEO of Torburn Partners, a commercial real estate investment firm that specializes in property “acquisition, disposition, development and management,” according to an online description. The company is based in Northbrook, Illinois.
The four-bedroom house Burns just bought has 4,780 square feet of living space, inside and out. On a quarter-acre lot, the house is the fourth one west of the lakefront.
The house had been on the market since mid June. Andrea Huainigg told the Daily News she and her husband were surprised at how quickly their home sold and they plan to look for a new residence, possibly a condominium, this fall.
The sale listing prepared by agent Jim McCann of Premier Estate Properties described the two-story residence as a contemporary-style European beach house with “pure lines, sophisticated details and designer finishes.”
Agents Whitney McGurk and Liza Pulitzer of Brown Harris Stevens acted for the buyer, according to the closed sales listing in the MLS.
Burns and his wife signed a $5.06 million, 30-year mortgage on the house with Wintrust Mortgage, a division of Illinois-based Barrington Bank, according to a document recorded Wednesday at the Palm Beach County Courthouse.
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Andrea Huainigg was actively involved in the design of the house and its interior finishes, she said in a phone interview.
“It’s a modern interpretation of a Dutch Colonial home — but a very contemporary interpretation,” said Huainigg, who until recently co-owned the now-shuttered Como Home & Design home-furnishings boutique on Royal Poinciana Way.
On Dolphin Road, Huainigg said, the goal was to create “a very soft and serene environment with a lot of different textures and natural colors.”
The house’s features include a terrazzo floor in the foyer, a sweeping staircase and a first-floor master suite. In the free-flowing layout, the living room has a wall of glass doors facing the infinity-edge lap pool. The adjacent kitchen is open to an expansive dining area.
Residents of Dolphin Road have access to a cabana on the beach at the east end of the street.
The Huainiggs paid a recorded $2 million for the property in 2014 and razed a house there to build their home, town records show.
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With ties to Krumpendorf, Austria, Andrea Huainigg is also a real estate agent and consultant.
She and her husband have lived in the area for nearly 10 years and are downsizing, she said, now that two of their three sons, who all attended Palm Beach Day Academy, are in college.
The Huainiggs previously owned another lot on Dolphin Road at No. 130 as well as a house in Manalapan, property records show.
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Andrea Huainigg and retail partner Moncia Oberting closed Como Home & Design retail store a few months ago in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Huainigg said. The story carried high-end European home furnishings.
But Huainigg is in the process of opening Le Serene Home & Design, a home-furnishings boutique and design studio at 206 Brazilian Ave. The stock will feature European- and American-made furniture and decorative accessories, she said. The store is already open by appointment, with plans to be fully operational by the end of September. Huainigg will be the sole owner, she said.
“Le Serene home will offer a new retail scene for curated home decor, offering beautiful brands, most of them exclusively,” she said.
The Huainigg are involved in international real estate development and management projects, according to their website. Those include residential projects in Europe and Florida.
Josef Huainigg has founded a number of tourism-related businesses, including companies that offer vacation-property rentals on Lake Worthersee in southern Austria, according to his website. He also is a business, tax and real estate consultant.
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This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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