Billionaire Michael Bozzuto is fighting for the right to moor his 164-foot mega-yacht behind a waterfront house he owns at 932 Shore Dr. in North Palm Beach.
But the Village of North Palm Beach has told Bozzuto he doesn’t have this right.
It’s the latest example of how big money landing in Florida is running up against Old Florida residents who want their communities to stay low-key.
After years of disputes over the yacht, Bozzuto recently filed a lawsuit against the municipality, asking a judge to agree that he has the right to the use of his house and his dock.
Who is Michael Bozzuto, and why is he suing the Village of North Palm Beach?
Here are five things to know:
1. Billionaire Michael Bozzuto is a longtime North Palm Beach resident
Bozzuto is the billionaire owner of a privately held, family-owned supermarket wholesaler in Connecticut called Bozzuto’s Inc. The company is a distributor of food and household products to retailers in New England, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Bozzuto’s was founded by Michael’s late father, Adam.
Even though Bozzuto’s Inc. is based in Connecticut, Bozzuto has lived in the Village of North Palm Beach, population 13,000, for 20 years.
2. Besides owning a yacht, what are Michael Bozzuto’s hobbies?
In addition to being a businessman, Bozzuto is an investor and philanthropist. He is a longtime supporter of the Special Olympics.
He is also an under-the-radar resident who likes to collect houses and yachts, said his lawyer, former Florida Bar president Gregory Coleman.
Bozzuto bought the motor yacht, Honey, about 10 years ago for an undisclosed sum. The Westport mega-yacht was built in 2007 and is the largest of several yachts Bozzuto owns.
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Bozzuto also owns four houses in the Village of North Palm Beach. This includes the house at 932 Shore Dr., where he wants to dock Honey. In 2014, Bozzuto paid $840,247 for the house, which was built in 1961, according to Palm Beach County property records.
The property is on a rare corner bordered on the north and east by navigable waters that provide access to the Atlantic Ocean via the Lake Worth Inlet. The east-facing dock is large enough to accommodate Honey.
Bozzuto’s residence is in another part of North Palm Beach, on Harbour Isles Court.
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3. Michael Bozzuto’s net worth isn’t known but billionaire owns property outside of North Palm Beach, too
Bozzuto made waves recently when in January he paid $31.1 million for a waterfront house in nearby Palm Beach Shores.
The Singer Island house with two docks stretches into the Intracoastal Waterway just north of the Palm Beach/Lake Worth Inlet. The three-lot parcel on 1.5 acres has about 200 feet of waterfront.
The property was bought from an owner whose family had owned it for decades. It’s unclear if Bozzuto will make any changes to the property.
In a brief interview in February, Bozzuto said: “It’s a house, and it will probably be a house.”
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4. Why can’t Bozzuto park his yacht behind his North Palm Beach house?
The Village of North Palm Beach rules say that a private dock or pier can only be used by the occupant of the house. But the village doesn’t define the word “occupant.”
Bozzuto’s lawsuit said while the village has discussed whether to define an occupant as a resident, it never has done so.
Hundreds of other property owners dock a boat behind their North Palm Beach house but do not live there year-round.
Therefore Bozzuto said he’s being singled out because neighbors just don’t like his boat’s big size. This selective enforcement is wrong, his lawsuit said.
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5. What does North Palm Beach think about the lawsuit?
Unfortunately, this is a mystery until the village responds to Bozzuto’s lawsuit in public court records.
The village’s longtime lawyer, Lenard Rubin, who knows the municipality’s history with boats and houses, did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did the village’s manager, Chuck Huff.
Alexandra Clough is a business writer and columnist at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at aclough@pbpost.com. Twitter: @acloughpbp. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
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