Some oceanfront homes are impressive. The Don Hankey House is something else entirely—a four-level, 11,000-square-foot contemporary mansion sitting on 5.69 acres of prime Highland Beach coastline. Listed in 2025 for $43.85 million, it is the most expensive active listing in the town and one of the priciest properties in all of Palm Beach County.
For those unfamiliar with the name, Don Hankey is the billionaire founder of the Hankey Group, a Los Angeles-based financial empire built largely on subprime auto lending. He bought this Florida estate in 2021 for just under $30 million—public records show a $29.5 million transaction—during a period when wealthy Californians were migrating to the Sunshine State in record numbers. Four years later, he put it back on the market at roughly a 50% premium, a price that reflects both shrewd timing and the property’s exceptional character. Represented by Douglas Elliman’s Samantha Curry—who also handled his 2021 acquisition—the listing positions the home as a rare trophy asset in an ultra-exclusive enclave.
Whether you’re tracking ultra-luxury real estate, curious about the man behind Westlake Financial, or simply want to see what $43.85 million buys on the Atlantic coast, the Don Hankey House is worth a close look.
Don Hankey House – At a Glance
| Primary Residence: | Malibu, California (Florida estate is a vacation home) |
| Address: | 3715 S Ocean Boulevard, Highland Beach, FL |
| Asking Price: | $43.85 million (2025) |
| Purchase Price (2021): | $29.5 million |
| Size: | 11,000+ sq. ft. interior + 3,000 sq. ft. sky deck |
| Land: | 5.69 acres | 120 ft ocean frontage | Sea‑to‑lake |
| Bed / Bath: | 7 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms |
| Key Features: | Infinity pool, sky deck, wine wall, smart home |
| Listing Agent: | Samantha Curry (Douglas Elliman) |
The (Location) Highland Beach Estate
Highland Beach occupies a narrow strip of barrier island between Boca Raton and Delray Beach, roughly 50 miles north of Miami. It’s quiet, wealthy, and deliberately low-profile—no commercial districts, no high-rises, just waterfront homes and the kind of privacy that billionaires tend to prefer. The median home sale price reached $1.2 million in early 2025, and oceanfront parcels command multiples of that figure.
The Hankey property sits at 3715 S Ocean Boulevard, stretching from the Intracoastal Waterway to the Atlantic Ocean. That sea-to-lake positioning is rare and coveted—it means the owner gets protected dock access on one side and open beach on the other. With 120 feet of direct ocean frontage, the estate claims a significant piece of Florida’s coastline that few properties can match.
Hankey purchased the estate in 2021 for $29.5 million. At the time, the Florida luxury market was in overdrive: pandemic-era migration, remote work flexibility, and favorable tax policies had driven a surge of out-of-state buyers into South Florida. The property’s current $43.85 million asking price reflects both broader market appreciation and a series of high-end improvements Hankey made during his ownership—including a notable renovation of the outdoor spaces.
The residence features contemporary architecture designed to maximize its oceanfront position. It stands at an elevation above many neighboring properties, offering added protection from coastal flooding—a detail that carries increasing weight as sea-level considerations factor into South Florida real estate valuations.
Architectural Design and Construction
The Don Hankey House is a four-level contemporary mansion built around clean lines, extensive glass, and an emphasis on framing the ocean from nearly every vantage point. As the photographs of the estate reveal, floor-to-ceiling windows across all levels create panoramic Atlantic views, while the open floor plan keeps sightlines long and unobstructed.
Materials throughout lean toward natural stone and earth tones. Lava stone floors and accent walls provide texture and durability suited to the coastal environment. A living green wall brings actual vegetation into the interior, softening the contemporary edges with organic warmth—a feature that sounds like a gimmick on paper but works beautifully in practice. Fourteen-foot limestone columns frame transitions between living and dining areas, adding a classical proportion that tempers the otherwise modernist aesthetic.
The floating stone fireplace anchors the main living space as both a heating element and a sculptural centerpiece. It manages to command attention without disrupting the open layout—a harder balance to strike than it sounds.
One of the home’s most striking architectural gestures is the primary suite, which cantilevers over the backyard. It’s an engineering statement as much as a design choice, extending the owner’s retreat toward the ocean without consuming ground-level outdoor space. A curving concrete staircase connects the various outdoor levels, serving a practical function while adding visual drama.
Smart home integration runs throughout: motorized glass walls that merge indoor and outdoor zones, advanced climate control, integrated lighting scenes, and security systems that work seamlessly behind the scenes. The technology is there when you want it and invisible when you don’t.
Interior Spaces and Luxury Amenities
The mansion contains seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms—seven full and two half-baths. Every bedroom features ocean views and an ensuite bath, a layout that reflects the reality that in a home of this scale, guests expect hotel-level accommodations.
1. The Primary Suite
The owner’s quarters span an entire level. A glass-enclosed office provides a workspace with Atlantic Ocean views—no virtual background can compete. The private gym holds professional-grade equipment. A wet bar eliminates trips to the kitchen. The open-air Jacuzzi terrace offers ocean-facing relaxation that most five-star hotels would envy. An oversized marble bath and custom closet systems complete the space.
2. Entertaining and Lifestyle Spaces
The screening room is built for private cinema experiences with acoustic treatments and comfortable seating. A 1,200-bottle wine wall—part storage, part display—dominates one corridor, turning a serious collection into a design feature. The six-car garage accommodates a collector’s fleet, and an elevator connects all four floors for easy movement throughout the home.
Fire features appear throughout, from the main living area’s floating fireplace to outdoor fire elements that extend evening use of the terraces. These details add warmth—literal and visual—to spaces that might otherwise read as overly polished.
3. Kitchen and Dining
The dual-kitchen layout separates everyday cooking from event-scale food preparation. The main entertaining kitchen opens to the living areas with clean lines, minimal upper cabinetry, and fully integrated appliances. Behind it, a separate catering kitchen contains commercial-grade equipment, extensive prep surfaces, and dedicated storage for serving pieces—essential infrastructure for a home designed to host large gatherings.
Dining spaces flex between casual breakfast areas and formal settings that accommodate double-digit guest counts. The flow between kitchen, dining, and outdoor areas supports the indoor-outdoor entertaining style that South Florida’s year-round warmth makes possible.
Outdoor Living and Exclusive Beach Access
The outdoor spaces received a significant renovation before the 2025 listing—reflecting an investment of approximately $250,000 to elevate the oceanfront experience. The infinity-edge pool now sits elevated above ground level, positioned so its waterline appears to merge with the Atlantic horizon. From the pool deck, the view is unbroken water—a rare luxury even among beachfront properties.
A double-decker patio design splits outdoor functions across two levels. The upper tier, adjacent to the main living floor, holds the pool, spa, and primary lounging areas. The lower level leads directly to the beach with outdoor showers, a covered loggia for shaded relaxation, and more intimate seating areas tucked into the landscaping.
With 120 feet of direct ocean frontage, the estate offers genuine private beach access—not the shared, sometimes-crowded experience of resort beaches, but a stretch of sand that belongs to the property. An underground tunnel connects the main house to a beachfront cabana and private dock, providing a passage that avoids exposure to neighboring properties entirely.
Landscaping uses palm trees and native coastal plantings to create privacy barriers without obstructing ocean views. It’s a delicate balance: too much screening, and you lose the views; too little and you’re on display. The estate threads this needle well, creating seclusion where it matters while keeping the Atlantic front and center.
As listing agent Samantha Curry puts it: “It’s the kind of home that instantly makes you feel like you’re at a five-star resort.” And with the newly completed pool, elevated decking, and covered loggia, that resort-like quality is more than just marketing—it’s a tangible experience.
Don Hankey: The Billionaire Owner
To understand the Don Hankey House, it helps to understand its owner. Don Hankey, now in his early 80s, built a financial empire from a single family-owned car dealership. He took over his father’s Ford dealership in Los Angeles in 1972 and quickly recognized an underserved market: car buyers with poor or no credit whom major banks refused to finance.
That insight became Westlake Financial Services, now the crown jewel of the Hankey Group. Westlake works with over 50,000 car dealerships across all 50 states, providing subprime auto loans to borrowers traditional lenders won’t touch. The company manages billions in assets. Forbes estimates Hankey’s personal net worth at $7.4 billion.
The Hankey Group has expanded well beyond auto lending. Its eight subsidiaries include Knight Insurance Group, which made national headlines in 2024 when its Knight Specialty Insurance unit provided a $175 million appeal bond for Donald Trump in his New York civil fraud case. The bond prevented the state Attorney General from collecting on a $464 million judgment while Trump appealed. Hankey also holds a major stake in Axos Financial, the San Diego bank that refinanced Trump’s mortgages on Trump Tower and Trump National Doral in 2022 when other institutions declined.
Financial Protection Bureau and Regulatory Scrutiny
Hankey’s business practices haven’t escaped scrutiny. In 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Westlake to pay $44.1 million in consumer relief for illegal debt collection practices. The bureau found that Westlake and its affiliate, Wilshire Consumer Credit, had manipulated caller IDs to impersonate third-party businesses, changed loan terms without borrower consent, and unlawfully disclosed debt information to borrowers’ employers and family members. In 2017, the Department of Justice alleged that Westlake illegally repossessed vehicles owned by military service members protected under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act—the company settled for $761,000. A second DOJ action in 2022 resulted in a $225,000 settlement for failing to provide service members with required interest rate benefits.
Despite his wealth and political connections, Hankey maintains a relatively low public profile. He lives primarily in Malibu, California, and the Highland Beach estate has served as a vacation property rather than a primary residence. His decision to sell after four years may reflect shifting personal priorities, or simply an opportunity to capitalize on South Florida’s continued luxury market strength.
Highland Beach Real Estate
The Don Hankey House listing arrives in a Highland Beach market defined by scarcity and sustained demand. Oceanfront land is finite, and the town’s resistance to commercial development keeps its character residential and exclusive. These dynamics create a market where trophy properties rarely become available—and when they do, they attract serious attention.
At $43.85 million, the Hankey estate is Highland Beach’s most expensive active listing. The next highest-priced property, an oceanfront mansion still under construction, asks $39.9 million. If the Hankey property sells near its asking price, it would approach the town’s record: a $45 million off-market transaction that closed in April 2022.
Samantha Curry of Douglas Elliman represents the listing. She previously handled Hankey’s 2021 acquisition of the property, giving her direct familiarity with the estate’s construction, systems, and improvements. Her marketing positions the home as both a multigenerational family compound and a resort-caliber retreat, noting that “it’s an exceptionally rare multigenerational estate—homes of this caliber and scale rarely become available in the Highland Beach market.” This dual appeal targets ultra-high-net-worth buyers who value lifestyle as much as investment potential.
The broader South Florida luxury market remains competitive despite elevated interest rates and broader economic uncertainty. Limited inventory, continued migration from high-tax states, and the region’s permanent appeal as a lifestyle destination all support pricing at this tier. Properties with genuine ocean frontage, modern construction, and turnkey finishes consistently outperform the market—and the Hankey estate checks every one of those boxes.
Investment Potential and What Comes Next
The numbers are straightforward. Hankey paid $29.5 million in 2021 and is asking $43.85 million in 2025—a potential return of roughly $14.35 million, or about 49%, in four years. That pace of appreciation outpaces even aggressive luxury market benchmarks.
For a prospective buyer, the property’s value proposition rests on several pillars. The sea-to-lake positioning—ocean beach on one side, Intracoastal dock access on the other—is genuinely rare. The contemporary construction is recent enough to feel current but established enough that major systems have been proven. The renovations and improvements made during Hankey’s ownership—including the $250,000 pool and deck overhaul—add turnkey appeal that new-construction purchases often lack.
The multigenerational potential is significant. Seven bedrooms across four levels, with separate entertaining and private zones, accommodate extended families without sacrificing anyone’s privacy. This layout also suits the growing trend of wealthy families consolidating multiple residences into a single compound that serves as both gathering place and retreat.
Of course, a $43.85 million asking price narrows the buyer pool considerably. Properties in this range can sit on the market for months or years before finding the right match. The estate’s appeal to international buyers—particularly from Latin America and Europe, regions that have historically driven significant South Florida luxury activity—could accelerate the timeline.
For the right buyer, the Don Hankey House offers something increasingly difficult to find: a turnkey oceanfront estate in an established, privacy-oriented community with modern construction, thoughtful design, and a prime stretch of Florida coastline. Whether that buyer emerges in weeks or years, the property sets a clear benchmark for what Highland Beach luxury living looks like at its most refined.
