Sirkin Building Founder Sells Waterfront Coconut Grove Home
Alan Sirkin, founder of Sirkin Building Corporation, sold his waterfront Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home in Coconut Grove for $13 million, less than half its original asking price from last year.
Records show Alan and Alicia Sirkin sold the house at 3500 North Bayhomes Road to the West 23rd Street Trust, with Knoxville, Tennessee-based attorney William D. Edwards signing.
Al Arostegui of One Sotheby’s International Realty had the listing. Lisa Thomson of Coldwell Banker Realty brought the buyer.
Alan Sirkin founded Sirkin Building, a Miami-based homebuilder, in 1972. He also manages his family’s real estate investment business, Sirkin Enterprises, which has been developing across asset classes since 1925, according to the firm’s website.
Alicia Sirkin is founder and director of the Sirkin Creative Living Center, a holistic life coaching firm based in Miami, according to LinkedIn. Prior to life coaching, she acted for radio and television commercials for 18 years, her LinkedIn shows.
The couple bought the 0.4-acre Coconut Grove property for $350,000 in 1984, records show. They commissioned architect Michael Simonhoff to design their Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired home and completed construction in 1990, according to Arostegui and records.
The 6,000-square-foot house has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and one half-bathroom. The property includes 70 feet of waterfront and an innovative dock that was just designed by the University of Miami, Arostegui said. The pool is raised 17 feet above sea level, a unique feature for the area, according to Arostegui.
“It’s not a white box like a lot of these new ones,” he said. “It’s more of a California contemporary house, without the hill, if you can imagine.”
The Sirkins first listed the home for $30 million in February of last year. They dropped the price steadily over the course of the year, last listing it for $16.9 million in March, Redfin shows. The final sale price was less than half of the original asking price.
Arostegui said they received numerous offers at higher prices from developers who were looking to tear the home down and build new, but the Sirkins didn’t want that for their home.
“This was about finding the right person that fell in love with what’s there,” Arostegui said.
It is true that most buyers in the luxury market are looking for new construction. Some are looking for properties with more history, though.
A wealth manager added to his Coconut Grove assemblage last month, dropping $48.5 million on a mansion built in 1935. Billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin paid $107 million for Adrienne Arsht’s waterfront estate in the neighborhood in September. Actor Christian Slater sold his Coconut Grove home for $4.3 million in August.
