Sylvester Stallone has sparked the ire of his affluent Florida neighbors with controversial plans to protect his $35 million waterfront home.
The 78-year-old actor’s Palm Beach neighbors are angry over his plans to build an underwater barrier and remind that he doesn’t “own the water” off the South Florida property which he purchased in 2021.
“While the barrier is billed in applications to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as needed to keep out seaweed and debris, a public notice from the Army Corps said ‘the overall project purpose is to exclude boaters’ from coming near the property — with seaweed a secondary concern,” The Palm Beach Post reported.
Neighbors were reportedly “blindsided” by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection issuing a notice on the proposal and giving them only until 5 p.m. Christmas Day to comment.
“Stallone’s application also includes a request for a submerged lease of state land, because the barrier would in part be on underwater property owned by the state of Florida, records show,” according to The Post.
Sylvester Stallone and his wife have purchased a Palm Beach mansion for $35.4 million, according to @trdmiami.
7 br / 10 bath / 10,539 sq fthttps://t.co/gKx6ZQRe79 pic.twitter.com/GSOUBd7Jty
— SFDB (@sfdb) December 18, 2020
The “Rocky” actor’s neighbor Bradford Gary called the mansion “one of the nicest West Indies houses” on the North End.
“He bought a beautiful property,” Gary said. “I can see why you’d want to protect it. But you can’t just kind of stake your claim and think you own the water.”
Celebrity wealth manager Lester Knispel reportedly submitted the application to the state and Army Corps. The estate, near President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, boasts a “262-foot private beach on the lake, along with a two-story mansion, a guesthouse and a pool pavilion,” the outlet noted.
🚨 Sylvester Stallone introduces President-Elect Trump at the @A1Policy gala! pic.twitter.com/Cyzuj2pPCj
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) November 15, 2024
A site survey at the property was completed by the state Department of Environmental Protection in 2022 and the barrier application was submitted in January 2023, according to records. A notice for public comment was published by the Army Corps on Oct. 24 with a 30-day period for concerns to be raised. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and one other comment were posted with questions about the plan.
But Susan Gary and her husband, Bradford, reportedly just received the notice this month.
“Usually when your neighbors are gonna do something, we’ve found in Palm Beach, usually they call,” Bradford Gary told The Post. “A lot of neighbors are concerned.”
They sent a letter to the state objecting to the proposal and also wrote to U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel who represents the 22nd District of Florida.
“We would not want a whole section of the beach completely blocked by this net, which is pretty big,” Gary said as he and his wife noted seaweed has not seemed to be a major concern in the area.
“Another frequent boater in that area, who asked not to be named because of privacy concerns, concurred, saying that while there may be an occasional bunch of seaweed that enters the inlet, it rarely gathers along the shore in bunches that could be considered a nuisance to Palm Beach’s North End,” The Post reported.
