A firm led by billionaire Aaron Jayson Adair , the CEO of auto auction company Copart, and his wife, Tammi L. Adair , purchased a waterfront home in Fort Lauderdale for $15.5 million with plans to tear it down and build a new mansion.
Larry Don Davis , the owner of CEO of Nacogdoches, Texas-based restaurant company Great Texas Foods, sold the 4,976-square-foot home at 2541 Laguna Terrace to 2541 Laguna Investments, managed by the Adairs. Barbara Panton with Fisher Mcclellan Real Estate represented the seller, while the buyer worked with Scott Patterson of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty.
Davis bought the home with water frontage on three sides in the Harbor Beach neighborhood for $1.53 million in 1996. It was built on the 40,809-square-foot lot in 1959. His company, Great Texas Foods, owns Ralph & Kacoo’s Seafood and Café del Rio in Texas, along with the Bistro Mezzaluna Italian Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale.
Panton said her client hadn’t lived in the home for years and it’s in a state of disrepair, so the buyer intends to tear it down and build a new mansion with a dock and seawall. The site is ideal for boating, as it has 555 feet of waterfront with room for three yachts at once, she said.
“Harbor Beach is one of the very few places from Miami to Palm Beach where your large ocean-going yacht can reach the ocean in minutes,” Panton said. An overhead view of the property at 2541 Laguna Terrace, Fort Lauderdale. Adair joined Dallas-based Copart (Nasdaq: CPRT) in 1989 and became CEO in 2010. The company was founded by Willis Johnson , his father-in-law. Forbes says Adair has a net worth of $1.4 billion. The company conducts online auctions of used and totaled cars.
