Rare double lot in Palm Beach under contract

The vacant double lot at 1230 North Ocean Way.

An unidentified bidder has a contract to pay $4.45 million for a vacant double lot measuring almost half an acre in the North End area of Palm Beach.

Patricia Mahaney, an agent with Sotheby’s International Realty, told the Palm Beach Daily News the oversize vacant lot at 1230 North Ocean Way is a “rare find” in the North End, where buyers are knocking down many of the older homes and building new ones.

The property is one block west of North Ocean Boulevard and deeded with beach access. It is midway between the Palm Beach Country Club and the northern tip of the Palm Beach.

The owner of the lot is Margaret Dorrance N. Duriez, who paid $3.375 million for houses at 1230 and 1232 North Ocean Way in August 2014, then razed the houses to clear the lots for a new two-story home.

But in March, Duriez changed her mind and paid $4.7 million for a Palm Beach house, located four blocks to the west on an even larger lot at 250 Palmo Way. [Palm Beach Daily News] — Mike Seemuth