Published by The Real Deal South Florida, April 6, 2021

Don Mullen, the former Goldman Sachs executive who bet against the U.S. housing market in what became called “the big short,” scooped up a Waterfront Miami Beach, Florida mansion, The Real Deal has learned.

Mullen is the buyer of a Sunset Islands spec home that sold last week for $24.8 million, sources told TRD. The entity that owns the house traded, rather than a deed for the home. Developer James Curnin sold the seven-bedroom, eight-and-a-half-bathroom home at 1757 West 27th Street, but declined to comment on the buyer’s identity. The 10,000-square-foot mansion was under construction at the time of the closing, according to Curnin and Corcoran agent Mick Duchon.  The Sunset Island II mansion was designed by Max Strang. The property includes a full outdoor kitchen, pool, 100 feet of water frontage, and floor-to-ceiling glass doors. It hit the market in February for $27 million and is expected to be completed by the fall.Duchon and Eloy Carmenate represented the buyer and seller. They also declined to comment on the buyer.

Mullen previously led Goldman Sachs’ mortgage and credit business, and is now founder and CEO of the New York-based real estate investment firm Pretium Partners, one of the largest owners and operators of single-family rentals in the U.S.

Mullen is one of dozens, if not hundreds, of financial titans from New York who have purchased luxury homes in South Florida over the past year.

Curnin said he had backup offers for the Sunset Islands house, and that he has “never been so busy” in his life. In February he sold an Allison Island spec home to Linda Lambert, who was married to the late Ben Lambert, founder of Eastdil Secured, for $13 million. He said he is in contract to sell another Allison Island spec home that is on the market for $15.3 million.

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As the cold weather set in and lockdowns continued in many U.S. cities, the market heated up for properties on remote islands in warmer climates.

Activity is expected to increase as travel bans are lifted — and some buyers are even willing to buy sight unseen to beat the competition, according to Mansion Global.

Some island nations are taking advantage of the uptick in demand. The Saint Kitts and Nevis government will give citizenship to buyers who pay more than $400,000 for a home in the two-island nation, offering easier access to Europe.

Bermuda is also offering a one-year residential certificate to people living in the country and working in another. Barbados and the Cayman Islands have similar programs.

“We’ve seen an uptick in purchases since the pandemic, from people looking for an escape from big cities,” said Neal Sroka, a high-end real estate consultant. “They do buy without visiting, provided they know the product, so it’s much easier to sell on a branded hotel basis rather than individual homes.”

Hotel-branded condo projects are gaining popularity stateside as well. The recognizable branding gives some buyers confidence. Four Seasons entered the market in 2019 and has completed a handful of properties around the country.

The phenomenon isn’t new: The flight of wealthy urbanites from cities last year amid the pandemic fueled activity in remote island destinations and rural communities alike.

[Mansion Global] — Dennis Lynch 

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Published by The Real Deal, February 5, 2021

UPDATED, Feb. 5, 2:11 p.m.: The headliners in Tampa this weekend are no doubt Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs and Tom Brady of the Buccaneers, but the two star Quarterbacks aren’t the only game in town.

While Jeff Vinik, Bill Gates and Ian Schrager will definitely not be suiting up on Sunday for Super Bowl LV, the trio are key players in a $3.5 billion mixed-use project set to transform the host city’s downtown waterfront. And with residential sales buoyed by a Florida market that has seen buyers move south for the climate, room, lighter taxes and less stringent Covid regulations, Tampa has attracted a crowd that will stay long after the Big Game.

Much of that focus is centered on the massive Water Street Tampa. The 56-acre, 9 million-square-foot complex is being developed by Strategic Property Partners, a partnership of Vinik and Cacade Investment, a fund controlled by Microsoft’s founder. In addition to apartments, condos, restaurants and offices, the megaproject includes three hotels. The 519-room JW Marriott Tampa Water Street opened last month and the city’s first five-star hotel, Schrager’s 172-key Tampa Edition with Marriott International, just topped off and will open later this year. It will also have 37 luxury condos above the hotel, along with 30,000 square feet of retail space. The third hotel is the Tampa Marriott Water Street, which has 727 rooms and is directly across Water Street from the JW Marriott.

The hospitality industry has been scorched by the pandemic, but Tampa has been among the most resilient markets, consistently ranking highest in occupancy nationwide — albeit drastically below pre-pandemic levels — according to hospitality research firm STR. Schrager, who created The Edition brand with Marriott, said he was optimistic about his first project in the Big Guava.

“Having been through events like 9/11 and other bad economic cycles, things always go back to normal,” Schrager said in an interview with The Real Deal. “A project of this scale sets its own tone and its own tempo. It doesn’t have to march to the same drumbeat that everyone else does. He added, “it is not often in life that you get an opportunity to do a project that can be completely transformative and change the soul and heartbeat of a city.”

Water Street Tampa, touted at its 2017 groundbreaking as one of the largest real estate developments in the U.S. located in an existing central business district, will include three apartment complexes: the 420-unit Heron at 815 Water Street, a 23-story, 388-unit tower at 1011 East Cumberland Drive and a 22-story, 511-unit development at 1050 Water Street,.

Drawing a crowd

Tampa and neighboring St. Petersburg have drawn the attention of South Florida developers, with the likes of Related Group and BTI Partners launching projects and pouring millions of dollars into the area. Related acquired 8.5 acres from BTI’s 52-acre master planned community called Westshore Marina District, where it built a 396-unit complex.

“We’re getting big city folk from Chicago and New York City who like the fact Tampa is not overcrowded,” said Dominic Pickering, sales director at BTI. “The Tampa Bay region is much smaller than South Florida. There is less traffic, much more open spaces and a lot of beachfront you can still have access to.”

Schrager said buyers at the Edition’s condo portion include locals looking to upgrade and out-of-towners from the Northeast, Midwest and California.

Last year, Tampa ranked fourth in U.S. cities that attracted new residents from more expensive metros, according to a Redfin report released Thursday. The influx has led to a housing crunch in Tampa, the data showed.

Luxury single-family and condo sales have also jumped, according to a fourth quarter Douglas Elliman report. High-end properties were on the market for an average of 40 days in the quarter, compared to 56 days over the same period in 2019. The average sale price for a Tampa home, about $440,000, was up nearly 8 percent year-over-year.

Elliman broker Niel Allen said low inventory and a growing population is driving demand and prices across Tampa and St. Petersburg, where the average homes sale price of $436,500 in the final quarter was up 29 percent year-over-year.

“I have a client who sold his business in Rochester, New York, and is buying a home in a golf community,” Allen said. “We are seeing a lot of people from Westchester and Washington counties in upstate New York.”

In September, retired Yankees superstar Derek Jeter and his wife Hannah, listed their 31,000-square-foot Tampa waterfront mansion for $29 million. The couple had been renting out “St. Jetersburg” to Brady and his wife, Gisele Bündchen. A month later, Brady and Bündchen were reportedly closing on a waterfront mansion in nearby Clearwater for $7.5 million, and in December they were revealed as the buyers of a $17 million waterfront property in Miami.

Prices remain high in the South Florida residential market, which has been riding a wave since the summer, with single-family and condo sales spiking. The trend continued in the fourth quarter, according to Elliman.

Getting in the game

At the Water Street Tampa, the new outdoor mall on Channelside Drive called Sparkman Wharf now has 15 tenants, according to a Strategic Property spokesperson. Four new tenants signed deals last month and leasing at the Heron apartment complex was ahead of projections.

“We’re getting big city folk from Chicago and New York City who like the fact Tampa is not overcrowded.”

Part of that is a result of “outside investors looking to capitalize” on the market, the spokesperson said. BTI is among them. The Fort Lauderdale-based developer has made big plays in Tampa in the past few years. It recently scored a $92 million loan from Bank OZK to finance the construction of the first phase of Marina Pointe, a three-tower mixed use project in the Westshore Marina District. 

The project, which broke ground over the summer and is scheduled to open next year, includes a 120-unit condo tower, 78 marina slips and 32,000 square feet of retail space. The development is part of the 52 acres BTI acquired several years ago, most of which it has sold off.

“We kept the peninsula that juts out into the Gulf for ourselves,” BTI’s Pickering said. “It is the jewel in the crown.”

Super Bowl LV, the 55th Super Bowl, will be held on Sunday, February 7th, in Tampa, Florida at 6:30 p.m.

 

 

Published by The Real Deal South Florida, January 29, 2021

Phil Collins sold his waterfront Miami Beach estate for $39,250,000 on January 28, 2021, after a legal battle with his ex-Wife, Orianne Bates.

Private equity billionaire Orlando Bravo and his wife Katy purchased the 11-bedroom, 10-bathroom mansion at 5800 North Bay Road, according to the Miami Herald. The 10,769-square-foot Mediterranean Revival estate, built in 1929, sits on a 1.2-acre lot. It has 184 feet of waterfront, a pool and dock, as well as a 6,000-gallon koi pond. Sources confirmed the buyer’s identity to The Real Deal.

Bravo is co-founder and managing partner of Thoma Bravo, a Chicago-based private equity investment firm. He’s worth about $3.7 billion, according to Forbes. The Puerto Rican-born businessman reportedly owns a home in the San Francisco Bay area.

Collins 5800 North Bay Road Miami LLC paid $33 million for the property in 2015, which previously belonged to Jennifer Lopez. 

Jill Hertzberg and Jill Eber of The Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker represented Collins. Judy Zeder represented the buyer.

Waterfront sales along North Bay Road have soared in recent weeks, with properties trading to Billionaire hedge fund manager Dan Loeb, Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, Karlie Kloss and Josh Kushner, and GameStop short-seller Gabe Plotkin, among others.

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