- Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison is helping raise the profile of the 400-resident island town of Manalapan, Fla. The multi-billionaire has already made a cumulative $450 million real estate investment in the town, and has taken over its biggest structure, the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, which offers memberships to town property owners without initiation fees or dues.
Known for his tech feats as cofounder and chief technology officer of Oracle, in South Florida, Larry Ellison is instead flexing his developer experience as he pours millions of dollars into real estate and helps transform an exclusive island town 20 minutes from Mar-a-Lago into a haven for the mega-rich.
The world’s fifth wealthiest man started buying properties in the 400-resident town of Manalapan, Fla. in 2022, and since then has pumped $450 million into two landmark properties, Bloomberg reported. Ellison set a Florida record for the purchase of a $173 million estate spanning 16-acres that includes both beachfront and lakefront property. And in August 2024, he paid $277 million for the town’s biggest structure, a 300-plus room hotel, the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, according to Bloomberg .
The hotel stands on the grounds of the original La Coquille Club, which in the 1950’s reportedly hosted the Duke and Duchess of Windsor as well as members of the Ford and Vanderbilt families. In the ’80s the original club was razed, but it still exists in name and is part of what is now the Eau Palm Beach hotel. Manalapan property owners can become members of the beach club without paying initiation fees or annual dues, according to the Town of Manalapan’s website .
For years, the ultra-rich have increasingly homed in on Florida properties. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has bought three properties on the Florida island Indian Creek, near Miami. Ken Griffin, the founder and CEO of investment firm Citadel, has also spent an estimated $450 million over the years amassing a 25-acre spread in Palm Beach…