Run-down oceanfront estate riles up Palm Beach neighborhood, six years after it sold

After deteriorating for six years, an oceanfront mansion on Palm Beach’s North End may finally get the repairs it needs.

Neighbors and representatives of the owner of 100 Casa Bendita have signed off on an agreement governing the property’s much-needed renovations.

The construction management agreement marks the first step in repairing the strained relationship between the homeowner — a company evidently controlled by former Russian banker Vladimir Stolyarenko — and neighbors tired of living next to the dilapidated mansion where renovations were supposed to be completed this year, according to town records.

“There was a lot of back and forth, and I think there was a certain amount of skepticism, if not mistrust among the parties, but everyone was willing to work together because this job had to be done,” Council Member Lew Crampton told the Palm Beach Daily News on Tuesday about the negotiations he helped mediate to reach the new agreement.

Property records indicate that Stolyarenko is behind the limited liability company that bought the property in 2018 for a reported $35 million from fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and his wife, Dee OcLeppo. The owner, Villa Bendita LLC, is registered in Delaware, a state with strict corporate privacy laws. Stolyarenko, who has a home in Europe, signed a mortgage in 2018 showing he managed Villa Bendita LLC.

The Town Council’s involvement with the neighborhood spat began in May, when representatives of the property owner requested a 30-month extension to the project’s original three-year building permit issued in 2021.

Unlike at most council hearings, officials May 15 chose to listen to the representative of the property's neighbors first, citing a slew of letters sent by residents who live on the Casa Bonita cul-de-sac complaining about the mansion's disrepair. Among those who wrote a letter was Michelle Kessler, who lives with her husband Howard, a financial services specialist, in a prominent oceanfront compound immediately south of the house.

Maura Ziska, the attorney representing the disgruntled neighbors, argued that if the project were to receive an extension, it should be couched in conditions that would give the neighbors some oversight and clear updates on the project and its status.

In addition to the Kesslers, other neighbors represented by Ziska included Bill and Christine Aylward.

During her remarks, Ziska presented a slideshow of images capturing the dilapidated state of the roughly 14,000-square-foot Mediterranean-styled mansion.

The lack of maintenance was apparent in the photos, as the slideshow detailed the broken shingled roof, rotted exterior doors, overgrown foliage and other problems, she said, that could have warranted code-violation fines. Ziska also noted that the property's backed-up drainage system has caused the cul-de-sac to flood whenever it rains.

Some officials questioned why code-enforcement officers had not cited the owner. But most of the problems were not viewable from the street and code officers cannot enter a private property without permission, said Council Member Bridget Moran.

In any case, Ziska said, the situation must not be allowed to continue.

“This job has barely begun and they’re asking for another two years,” Ziska said, referring to the extension request.

Conflict within the construction team

The town issued its first building permit to renovate the home’s interior and exterior in April 2021. Genny Contreras, the property owner's attorney, told the May council meeting the home's dilapidated state came about after the construction team began to fracture once the permit was granted.

According to documents prepared by Contreras, the delay began when the team’s interior architect and interior designer butted heads over the project’s direction. Their disagreements culminated with the interior designer leaving the project.

Soon the owner dropped the interior architect, the document said, citing missed deadlines and conflicting design goals. The original "owner’s representative," who oversaw the project, also departed, having hired and supported the interior architect and designer, the document notes.

Contreras did not immediately return an emailed request from the Palm Beach Daily News seeking comment.

By the end of 2023, the owner had found replacements for all these positions, and by early April, had hired Jupiter-based Willoughby Construction as general contractor.

Brian Willoughby, co-founder of Willoughby Construction, told the May meeting that since joining the project on April 5, his team had taken steps to alleviate neighbors' concerns, including trimming back overgrown foliage that intruded into neighboring yards and holding meetings with neighbors to hear their concerns.

Council Member Julie Araskog was shocked by the state of the project, and said that if the council were to extend the permit, its approval would have to be tied to increased oversight.

"I think you should have to appear before us every month," Araskog said.

Crampton said that considering Willoughby's proactivity and willingness to compromise, an agreement could be reached between the opposing parties.

Disagreeing with Crampton, Contreras said that neighbors had been asking for new conditions every time they spoke with the owner's team members.

"We're going to get nine homeowners to agree on one agreement? That's not going to work," Contreras said.

In response, Ziska proposed creating the construction management agreement to govern relations between the owner's team and the neighbors. While Contreras pushed back, Willoughby said that he was open to entering into such as agreement — especially, he said, if it allowed his crews to begin cleaning up the work site while the document was being drafted.

The council unanimously voted to 5-0 on May 15 to approve the 30-month building-permit extension with the condition that the opposing parties would create the construction management agreement mediated by town staff and Crampton.

That agreement was hashed out in the office of Wayne Bergman, director of the Planning, Zoning and Building Department, Crampton told the Daily News.

He said while the drafting process had its bumps and conflicts, in the end, both parties agreed on a framework that included key conditions sought by neighbors, including traffic control for work vehicles, work hours, delivery logistics and the creation of a construction timeline with milestones.

It also required the owner to set up a financial account from which contractors could draw, with the goal of helping to speed up construction and verify to neighbors his financial stability. Additionally, the agreement tasked Willoughby with providing biweekly reports to neighbors and Crampton.

Crampton said that since the agreement's signing, he has already received updates on the project's status from Willoughby.

He credited the attorneys for finding common ground, and Christine Aylward for serving as a spokesperson for the group of concerned neighbors during the negotiations. Crampton told the council during its June 12 meeting that the agreement had been signed.

Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News , part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at dlasa@pbdailynews.com .

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Run-down oceanfront estate riles up Palm Beach neighborhood, six years after it sold