Billionaire investor and San Francisco Giants owner Charles B. Johnson is the newest West Coast financier to make a substantial acquisition in Florida. Just before spring, the former Franklin Resources (a.k.a. Franklin Templeton, headquartered in San Mateo, California) helmsman dropped $22 million to acquire a Palm Beach estate anchored by a Moorish-inspired Mediterranean. Total living space on the property measures 7,154 sq. ft., with seven bedrooms and at least eight baths in the mansion.
The stylized residence was completed this year. It occupies a .48-acre lot overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, which is filled out with lawns, a pool, a pool house containing a summer kitchen, and a courtyard with a fountain. The outdoor living spaces in the mansion itself include balconies and a loggia, although the home’s family room opens generously to the water-side living area through a wide expanse of fold-away, wood-framed glass doors.
The home’s interior living spaces also include a slick kitchen with a marble-capped cook’s island, a stove backsplash in herringbone tile, and a leaded glass casement window. Among the details are pocketing doors, oversized gothic-arched windows, smuggler’s lantern pendants, ceilings ornamented with custom millwork, carved fireplace mantels, built-in shelving, a curved staircase with a wrought-iron balustrade, an elevator, and the cypress paneling of the library—which also boasts a wet bar, giving it a dual identity as a cigar lounge as well.
Johnson’s net worth is north of $5 billion, according to Forbes.