11 Jan Miami Herald: Rosie O’Donnell sells waterfront Palm Beach home to Huizenga Jr.
TV talker Rosie O’Donnell has finally unloaded her waterfront vacation home in West Palm Beach, and the buyer is well-known in these parts: H. Wayne Huizenga Jr., the eldest son of former Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga.
And Huizenga says he plans on leveling the house to build something nicer on the Intracoastal-front property.
“It’ll probably take three years before we can move in,” Huizenga said.
O’Donnell had the Northwood Village property on the market for almost a year and didn’t get as much as much as she’d hoped: The five-bedroom, six-bathroom crib was sold Jan. 8 for $5 million, according to public records. That was 10 percent below the asking price of $5.5 million.
The outspoken O’Donnell didn’t even recoup the $5.27 initial investments she made in the property when she purchased it in 2015, months after she sold her longtime home on Star Island in Miami Beach for $12.6 million.
The West Palm property features 178 feet of waterfront, a guest home, an outdoor fireplace, two tented loggias, a 40-foot-long swimming pool and lawn.
Buyer Huizenga, 56, bought the Rybovich boat yard and marina down the street from the property 14 years ago and has seen the neighborhood change for the better. Which is why he is making the move from Boca Raton.
“I believe in Northwood Village,” he said. “It’s a wonderful place to live and work.”
So, what was it like dealing with Rosie?
“I wouldn’t know,” he said. “We did this through brokers.”
Jr.’s famous dad once owned the Blockbuster chain of DVD rental stores, baseball’s Florida Marlins, hockey’s Florida Panthers and the Dolphins. The elder Huizenga has four sons.
By Jose Lambiet
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