A 9,000-square-foot Maurice Fatio-designed mansion at 115 Via La Selva in Palm Beach went under contract last week at an asking price of $49.5 million, the most expensive single-family transaction to reach contract on the island in the prior seven days, according to Palm Beach Daily News listing data. The sellers are Philip and Catherine Korsant; Philip Korsant is the former longtime Ziff Davis Publishing executive and founder of family office Long Light Capital, now led by his son Justin Korsant as CEO. The Korsants acquired the house for $14 million in 2017, putting their basis at roughly 28 percent of the contract ask.

The listing is held by Suzanne Frisbie of the Corcoran Group. At $49.5 million, the contract represents a 3.5x basis expansion over nine years of ownership — a return profile consistent with the Palm Beach island-wide appreciation curve since 2017, but executed on a 0.8-acre Fatio-built parcel rather than a teardown or land play.

The Fatio Provenance Premium

Built in 1928, the 115 Via La Selva house is one of a small set of original Maurice Fatio commissions still in private hands and listed in their original architectural envelope. The Swiss-born architect arrived in Palm Beach in 1925 and produced a body of work that defined the island’s interwar Mediterranean Revival period — landmark estates including Casa Eleda, Il Palmetto (recently off-market at $137 million), and Carriage House projects scattered through the Estate Section.

For trophy buyers and the lending desks that price Palm Beach collateral against architectural pedigree, a documented Fatio carries a premium that has only grown as the surviving inventory shrinks. The 115 Via La Selva offering includes eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms, three half-baths, a gym, a pool, and a guest house — standard for the price tier, but the Fatio attribution and the 1928 building date are the deal’s anchor data points, not the room count.

What the Contract Tells the Comp Set

The Korsant contract follows a sequence of trophy closings and listings that have reshaped the island’s mid-cycle pricing. On May 7, the $62.5 million Manalapan sale by Randal Kirk’s family office closed at 53 percent off the original $134 million ask — the largest trophy discount of the cycle. The Reuben Brothers’ $200 million Esplanade Worth Avenue buy, announced last week, reset Worth Avenue as institutional-grade trophy commercial product. And the Korsant contract at $49.5 million signals that the trophy residential range $40 million–$50 million is still finding buyers at ask — a meaningful data point given the absorption challenges visible in the trophy-plus tier above $75 million.

The 115 Via La Selva price-per-square-foot works out to approximately $5,500 — well below the $10,000-plus PSF reserved for direct-ocean parcels, but appropriate for the architectural pedigree and Estate Section location. For lenders, the relevant comp now sits in the upper $40 million range for fully-renovated, architect-of-record Estate Section product.

Who Buys at $49.5 Million

The buyer has not been publicly disclosed. The Korsants’ selection of Frisbie — Palm Beach’s longest-tenured specialist in Fatio and Mizner provenance product — and the absence of a public marketing push suggests the contract emerged from off-market or quietly-marketed buyer channels rather than open listing inquiry. That pattern fits the late-2026 trophy buyer profile: family offices, private wealth principals, and discreet ultra-high-net-worth individuals who prefer single-broker sourcing over public price discovery.

What the broker network reads from the contract: Estate Section trophy product with architectural pedigree continues to clear at or near ask in the $40 million–$50 million band. The price has shifted up materially from the pre-2020 range, but the velocity remains intact for product with documented provenance.

The contract has not yet closed. Closing timeline and final price will be publicly disclosed via the Palm Beach County Recorder once recorded.

From the Borro desk: Spring auction season has resold trophy assets across multiple categories — auction-house consignments, single-owner art collections, and trophy real estate — and the comp data is reordering quickly. See Spring Auction Season Delivers: Cross-Market Insights from Contemporary Art’s Biggest Market Moment.

Related coverage: Randal Kirk’s Manalapan Oceanfront Sells at $62.5 Million — 53 Percent Off Original Ask | Douglas Durst Closes a $14.9 Million Palm Beach Teardown on North Lake Way