- October 9, 2021
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When interior design is your career path, serial renovations and selling your own residences go with the territory, says Guy Clark of Guy Clark Interiors and a real estate agent in the Palm Beach office of Douglas Elliman Real Estate.
“Interior design has been my job. I’ve been doing it for 20 years, and once I complete my own home, I get bored and need to move on to another project,” Clark says.
He and husband Harrison Morgan last year sold their apartment on the South End’s condominium row and moved north to Midtown’s Palm Beach Towers.
In November 2020, when Clark found out that No. 318A — a lakeview condo in the Towers — was for sale, he and Morgan, a jewelry and fashion designer, picked it up.
“We were in the South End in a much larger apartment, but we like the services at the Palm Beach Towers. They’ll do anything for you. They’ll even wash your car and pick you up at that airport. It’s amazing,” he explains.
“It’s a rare end unit,” Clark says about the condo’s position at the far north end of the complex at 440 Cocoanut Row, about a block south of Royal Poinciana Way.
The windows overlook the Flagler Memorial Bridge, the Intracoastal Waterway and Royal Poinciana Plaza.
With their latest renovation complete, the couple is planning another move. As such, they have listed, through Douglas Elliman, their third-floor, two-bedroom, two-bath unit at 440 Cocoanut Row. With 1,272 square feet of living space, inside and out, the apartment is priced at $3.35 million, with the furnishings available separately.
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While Clark managed to complete the re-do in what he calls record time, the apartment needed a fair amount of work, he says.
“When I first saw it, it was very dark, with plantation shutters everywhere and dark wood built-in cabinets cantilevered out of the wall in the living area and entry. We removed those and redid the walls, something we didn’t intend to do, but one thing leads to the next. You have to do more than you think — insulation, trim, moldings. It would have been easier to gut the entire unit, but I didn’t know that I would have to do all this work.”
He also replaced the metal railings on the balconies with impact-resistant glass panels and installed impact-resistant glass windows and doors. The apartment also got a new electric system, lighting fixtures and wallpaper.
The kitchen was refreshed, including a partial reconfiguration. It had been open on two sides, each with a counter.
“We blocked out one side, so that the kitchen was not so exposed,” he explains. “The appliances, cabinets, marble counter and glass-tile backsplashes were fine.”
The bathrooms were fine, too, he says.
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Upon entering the foyer, one heads north into the living and dining areas, which open to the corner balcony and the kitchen. The ensuite bedrooms lie to the south. Floors in the living areas, which were cleaned and regrouted during the renovation, are covered in a neutral ceramic tile. The bedroom floors have wool carpeting by Stark.
The wallpapers Clark chose are from Japan and Italy. “I believe in wallpaper; it adds character to a flat surface,” he says.
In the master bedroom, the paper has a birch tree pattern. “I’m Swedish, so, to me, a birch forest is like living in a complete fantasy.”
In the guest-bedroom/den, walls are covered in a custom Japanese paper that resembles grasscloth over gold leaf, and the ceiling is finished with a gold-leaf paper.
“The paper in the master bathroom looks like crushed shell, and in the guest bathroom it looks like giant slabs of beige and tan agate, he says.
The closets have custom-fitted fixtures, and one of them holds the washer/dryer.
On the site of Henry M. Flagler’s original Royal Poinciana Hotel, Palm Beach Towers was built as an apartment hotel in 1956 and converted to condominiums in 1973 by Harry and Leona Helmsley. It stands immediately south of the Royal Poinciana Plaza, about a block south of Royal Poinciana Way.
The six-floor complex originally had 277 units, but some have since been combined to create bigger units, Clark says.
“It’s well maintained. They are constantly working on it, and the manager, who has been there for 42 years, owns an apartment here. He runs the building like a hotel and a ship combined. Next summer, they are doing the lobby and hallways.”
Amenities at Palm Beach Towers include Restaurant 44, which provides indoor and outdoor dining as well as room service; and Market 44, offers breakfast, lunch and poolside dining service. The development also is home to Cosmo & Co. Salon and Spa, a tailoring shop and a lakeside putting green. The health club and exercise studio offer residents complimentary classes, and there’s also an on-site masseuse. The building has 24-hour security and door staff and offers concierge services to its residents.
“I prefer this location because of its proximity to Royal Poinciana (Plaza). Our apartment is as close as you can get. You can go right out the back gate and be at Sant Ambrose (restaurant) and Hermes in one minute,” Clark says.
“This chapter has been great, and if a place comes available here, that would be fine. Otherwise I’ll find another place to park my hat.”
