WeatherTech Founder Sells Fort Lauderdale Mansion for $40M
WeatherTech founder David MacNeil sold his oceanfront Fort Lauderdale mansion for a record $40 million.
The car accessories mogul sold the newly built 12,700-square-foot mansion at 3052 North Atlantic Boulevard for the asking price, according to a press release. Tim Elmes of Compass had the listing, and Austin Baris of Miles Goldstein Real Estate brought the buyer. The buyer is a local businessman who had been house hunting in Fort Lauderdale for more than a year, Elmes said.
MacNeil founded Bolingbrook, Illinois-based WeatherTech in 1989. The car accessories company is known for its floor mats.
He bought the 0.4-acre Fort Lauderdale property for $3.2 million in 2018, records show. The mansion includes 100 feet of ocean frontage, seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, seven half-bathrooms and a pool. MacNeil sold it fully furnished, according to the listing.
He listed the house for $40 million in July, making it among the priciest listings in Broward County at the time.
Elmes said that despite the market cooling from its pandemic era frenzy, the high end of the luxury market is still appreciating in price.
“We’re seeing a very, very strong upcoming season,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of drivers sending people down here.”
With this sale, MacNeil broke the previous price record for residential real estate in Broward. David and Vicki Curtis set the previous record in August of last year, when they bought a waterfront Fort Lauderdale spec estate for $32.5 million, breaking a previous $28.5 million record set one month prior.
Another top Broward listing closed earlier this summer, although it fell shy of a record. 1-800-411-PAIN founder and chiropractor Robert Lewin sold his 17,000-square-foot Southwest Ranches mansion for $22.5 million. Lewin had previously listed that mansion and the adjacent 14,500-square-foot mansion he had built for his identical twin brother together, asking a combined $54 million.
Increasingly, real estate investors, developers and brokerages are eyeing Broward County, and specifically Fort Lauderdale, as the next play in South Florida’s luxury market.
Brokerages, like Edgardo Defortuna’s Fortune Christie’s International Real Estate, opened its first Fort Lauderdale office earlier this year, while Compass and Douglas Elliman homed in on Weston.
Soccer star Lionel Messi also brought the spotlight to Fort Lauderdale, after reports emerged earlier this summer that he was house hunting in the area. After some speculation he would buy in Sea Ranch Lakes, the InterMiami forward dropped $11 million on a waterfront home in Fort Lauderdale’s Bay Colony.
