Two private equity executives sold their Palm Beach home for $17.9 million, down from its $28.5 million listing price last year.
J. Richard Knop and Leslee Belluchie sold the home at 110 Wells Road to a trust named for the address, with local attorney Guy Rabideau signing on behalf of the buyer. The true buyer is unknown.
Paulette and Dana Koch with the Corcoran Group had the listing, and Christian Angle with Christian Angle Real Estate brought the buyer.
Knop is the founder of FedCap Partners, a Virginia-based private equity firm focused on federal contractors that work with the U.S. intelligence community, cybersecurity, and energy. He also co-founded Bethesda, Maryland-based Windsor Group, an investment banking firm that works with defense contractors and former U.S. Defense Department and CIA employees who leave to start their own companies. In a recent interview with the New York Times, he said, “My career was in the swamp.”
Belluchie also worked in private equity related to federal contractors, and was a co-founder of FedCap Partners. She was previously the senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Serco-NA, the IT services firm formerly known as SI International, overseeing a $1.3 billion division of the firm, according to published reports.
Knop and Belluchie bought the Wells Road house from Bruce Springsteen’s drummer Max Weinberg for $6.8 million in 2018, records show. The 4,400-square-foot home was built in 1986 on 0.4 acres, according to property records. It has five bedrooms, six bathrooms, two half-bathrooms and a pool.
The couple filed for divorce in 2023, and the case is still pending, court records show. They listed the home for $28.5 million in 2024, selling it for a $10.6 million discount, according to Zillow.
They aren’t the only ones cutting prices to get deals done in Palm Beach. Earlier this month, home improvement star Bob Villa and his wife, Diana Barrett, sold their waterfront home for $33 million, a nearly $20 million drop from their first asking price. In April, a widow sold her oceanfront home for $26.7 million, down from $39 million she listed it for in 2024.
Brokers say sellers are getting more realistic about pricing now that the pandemic heyday is officially over, but major deals are still closing on the island. A buyer linked to Microsoft spent the busy season quietly assembling a $350 million oceanfront estate. Sources told The Real Deal the buyer is likely Word and Excel creator Charles Simonyi.
