Steve Witkoff Flips Waterfront Miami Beach Lot for $20M
Steve Witkoff in front of 6455 Pine Tree Drive Circle (Paisley Real Estate, Roberto Castellanos)
New York developer and Florida transplant Steve Witkoff just flipped a waterfront home lot in Miami Beach for a 188 percent markup, The Real Deal has learned.
Paisley Real Estate LLC, led by Witkoff and managed by the Witkoff Group, sold the 0.6-acre plot at 6455 Pine Tree Drive Circle for $20 million, according to property records and the MLS. The entity paid close to $7 million for the corner lot in early 2021. It is near La Gorce Island and across from Allison Island, and has 342 feet of water frontage.
Oren Alexander of The Alexander Team at Douglas Elliman represented the seller. It was listed for both $50 million, a price that included a new home, and $20 million for just the lot. The property was listed with plans for a 15,556-square-foot home designed by architect Kobi Karp.
Elliman agent Pier Paolo Visconti and his partner Claudia Llanes of The Visconti Team represented the buyer. Visconti declined to disclose the buyer’s identity, but said the buyer is from New York and plans to build a vacation home on the lot. Alexander also declined to comment on the buyer’s identity.
Visconti’s client was looking for a $50 million home, but inventory was lacking, so “[Llanes] started cold calling every single owner of a property in certain ZIP codes with lots bigger than 20,000 square feet,” he said. The deal marks a per-square-foot record for land in the 33141 ZIP code, Visconti added.
The buyer also bought the plans for the property for an undisclosed amount and expects to spend about $15 million to $18 million to build the house, Visconti added.
Sellers of luxury homes in South Florida have taken advantage of the hot market and flipped their properties, like Witkoff did with the Pine Tree Drive Circle lot.
Witkoff and his firm have become very active in Miami.
At Miami Worldcenter in downtown Miami, Witkoff Group and Monroe Capital teamed up to buy the roughly 5-acre site of the canceled convention center hotel for $94 million. The partners recently proposed a three-tower development with office, retail and about 2,200 residential units.
Witkoff also partnered with Monroe on a major planned renovation of the Shore Club Hotel in Miami Beach, and as well as with Ari Pearl on part of a Hallandale Beach mixed-use golf resort project.
On the residential front, Witkoff picked up at least two Miami Beach home lots in the last three years. In 2019, a company tied to Witkoff paid $10 million for a waterfront home on the Sunset Islands, and obtained a demolition permit for it last year. And in 2020, a company tied to Witkoff bought a vacant waterfront lot on North Bay Road for $8 million.
Last summer, members of the Witkoff family purchased units at the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Miami Beach for nearly $11 million combined, including Steve Witkoff’s wife, Lauren Witkoff, and his son, Zach Witkoff. Lauren Witkoff is executive vice president of sales and marketing at the firm and Zach Witkoff is executive vice president of development.
