Larry Ellison quietly bought 8 homes for his staff to be near his sprawling Florida mansion

Larry Ellison’s Florida real estate empire apparently comes with its own staff housing.The Oracle billionaire quietly bought eight houses in the a single gated Boynton Beach community, shelling out nearly $10 million to put members of his family’s household staff within commuting distance of his sprawling Manalapan estate.The buying spree unfolded over just weeks in 2023 at Palm Meadows Estates, a 288-home enclave about 30 minutes from Ellison’s oceanfront compound, according to property records. And Ellison wasn’t shopping for investment properties.The homes were intended for employees who help keep the billionaire’s household running, including tutors for some of the five children he shares with his wife, Jolin Ellison, people familiar with the arrangement told the Wall Street Journal. The unusual setup offers a window into how the ultrawealthy are expanding their real estate footprints beyond mansions and vacation homes, increasingly securing separate housing for the employees who make their lifestyles possible.For Ellison, 82, that meant effectively creating a satellite neighborhood for staff near his own South Florida base.Ellison made a splash in Manalapan in 2022 when he paid $173 million for Gemini, a roughly 15-acre estate stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Intracoastal Waterway.The blockbuster deal set a Florida residential sales record at the time.About 30 minutes away sits Palm Meadows Estates, a guarded community in West Boynton Beach surrounded by South Florida horse country.

Its homeowners association says the development contains 288 homesites that all boast water views along with 24-hour staffed security and a clubhouse.Ellison’s arrival there began with a mysterious house hunt.Around March 2023, Palm Meadows resident and LuxeIQ real estate agent Kimmie Cruz said she received a request from another broker seeking immediate access to her listings for an unidentified buyer interested in acquiring roughly 10 houses.The search wasn...