From The Wall Street Journal - $47 Million Home Sale In Florida Heralds A Potential Resurgence In The High-End Real Estate Market

By CANDACE JACKSON

A Florida home has sold for $47 million, a record for a single-family house in Miami-Dade County, as the high-end real-estate market shows signs of a resurgence.
The home was originally listed for $60 million and had been on the market since early 2011, when construction was still being completed. The asking price for the Indian Creek Village home was reduced to $52 million this year.

A 10-bedroom estate on a private island off Florida's Biscayne Bay that originally listed for $60 million has sold for $47 million, potentially a record for a single-family home in Miami-Dale County. Candace Jackson has details on The News Hub.

The identity of the buyer, a Russian who bought the home in the name of a U.S.-based limited-liability company, couldn't be learned.

The home is on a small gated island.

The high-end market in South Florida has picked up in recent months, with a number of sales well above the $10 million mark. The previous county record was broken in March, when another home in Indian Creek sold for nearly $40 million to hedge-fund manager Edward S. Lampert. In May, a South Beach penthouse owned by the family that controls the Birkenstock shoe company sold for $25 million, a record price for an apartment, according to local brokers.
"The market has changed dramatically for the super high end," said Jill Eber of Coldwell Banker's "The Jills," one of the property's Miami-area listing brokers. "These are prices that we've never, ever seen before."

It was constructed in a style described as 'conceptual.'

The Indian Creek estate is on a small gated island, with a private golf course, that is home to a number of celebrity residents, including Julio Iglesias. The 30,000-square-foot home has glass walls overlooking Biscayne Bay and was designed to feel like a private resort. It was constructed across a series of limestone pavilions divided by waterways with koi ponds, in a style that architect Rene Gonzalez described as "conceptual."
There is a central courtyard with landscaped walls, as well as a beach with several tons of sand imported from the Bahamas, chosen over local sand for its pinkish color.
The home also has a hidden art vault, a projection 3-D movie theater and a wine cellar accessed with fingerprint identification. The furnishings were custom-designed for the space.
The sellers of the 10-bedroom estate are developers and longtime friends, Shlomi Alexander and Felix Cohen, who built the home on speculation, expressly to sell. Construction began in May 2008, when South Florida's real-estate market was soft, said Mr. Alexander. Oren Alexander, one of the developer's sons and a co-listing broker, said the sale had been in the works for more than six months and was done in cash. "Whoever has the product is going to be king because no one else has been building," he said.
Although the home sold for more than 20% less than its initial asking price, the elder Mr. Alexander said he credits his decision to put a $60 million price tag on the home with attracting the kind of attention that led to a sale. "I created the hype," he said.
The father and son said they planned to break ground in the next couple of months on their next project, which they described as a contemporary-style home similar to the Indian Creek property. They will market the home, located in Bal Harbour, Fla., for $25 million.
For more information on this or Telluride luxury real estate, please contact Telluride Real Estate Corp. at 970.728.3111, info@telluriderealestatecorp.com or www.telluriderealestatecorp.com.