The beachfront estate at 1700 Gulf Boulevard in Belleair Shores, Florida is owned by real estate investor and YouTube personality Ben Mallah, who bought it in 2019 for $16.5 million from former Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard.1St. Pete Catalyst. Places This Week: Ben Mallah’s Belleair Beach Estate Title is held through a Florida LLC rather than in Mallah’s personal name, so the deed on file at the county does not show his name directly. He later listed the property for $35 million, and as of late 2025 it was still on the market, which means the current record owner should be reconfirmed through Pinellas County before relying on anything printed here.
How the Property Changed Hands
Ryan Howard had the house custom-built as a private residence after his baseball career. Construction was kept quiet, and the site was closely guarded from public view at the time.2FOX 13 Tampa Bay. New Owner of Ryan Howard’s Former Home Gives First Look Inside Palatial Mansion Howard sold the finished estate to Mallah in 2019 for $16.5 million, a sale that drew local coverage because of the scale of the home and its position directly on the Gulf of Mexico in the small Town of Belleair Shores.
Mallah subsequently listed the property for $35 million. It was still listed in late 2025. Whether he remains the owner today depends on what the most recent deed in the Pinellas County Official Records shows.
Why the Deed Shows an LLC Instead of a Person
Pinellas County records list the title holder as an LLC. This is routine for investor-owned Florida real estate at this price point. Under Florida law, an LLC’s debts and liabilities belong to the company, not to its members or managers personally, and that liability shield applies even if the company doesn’t observe formalities like meetings or minutes.3The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 605.0304 – Liability of Members and Managers
To connect the LLC on the deed to the person behind it, use the Florida Division of Corporations database, commonly called Sunbiz. You can search by entity name or street address and see the registered agent, officers, or managing members.4Florida Department of State. Search Records – Division of Corporations When an LLC is named after the property it holds, the match is immediate.
One point to be aware of: federal beneficial ownership reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act was scaled back in 2025. An interim rule published in March 2025 exempted all U.S.-formed entities and their beneficial owners from the FinCEN reporting requirement, limiting it to foreign-formed companies registered to do business in the United States.5Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting A domestic Florida LLC holding the deed to this property is not required to disclose its beneficial owners to FinCEN, so Sunbiz remains the main public window into who stands behind the entity.
How to Confirm the Current Owner Yourself
Pinellas County splits property records between two offices, and knowing which does what saves time. The Property Appraiser’s office tracks valuation, tax history, and physical details, and you can search its portal by address.6Pinellas County Property Appraiser. Pinellas County Property Appraiser Quick Search The Clerk of the Circuit Court maintains the Official Records where deeds, mortgages, and liens are stored.7Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes 28.222 – Clerk to Be County Recorder
A practical sequence works well. Pull up the property profile on the Property Appraiser’s site using the 1700 Gulf Blvd address. That profile shows the current record owner (the LLC) and typically links through to the Clerk’s Official Records portal, where you can open the actual recorded deed and see the chain of transfers.8Pinellas County Clerk. Official Records If a sale has closed since this article was written, the newest warranty deed or quitclaim deed in that system will name the new grantee. Take that entity name back to Sunbiz, and you have the person behind the deed.
For context on the property itself, recent assessed value sits around $21.3 million, producing roughly $259,000 in annual property taxes. The estate does not qualify for Florida’s homestead exemption because the owner is an LLC, not an individual making the property a permanent residence.9My Florida Legal. Homestead Exemption, Limited Liability Company None of that changes the ownership answer, but it confirms the entity structure visible on the deed matches the tax treatment the county applies.