Enron Short Seller Lists Miami Beach Condo for $21 Million

Famed short seller Jim Chanos is listing an apartment at the Continuum, a luxury condo complex in Miami Beach, Fla., for $21 million. 

The roughly 4,800-square-foot apartment has four bedrooms, two offices, a media room and a large living room, according to a spokesman for the Corcoran Group, which is listing the property. It has views of the Atlantic Ocean, Fisher Island, and the Miami skyline.

Chanos, founder of the New York-based hedge fund Chanos & Co., bought the apartment in 2003 for $3.115 million, according to property records. Chanos said he bought the unit off floor plans before it was built. At the time, he spent about four months a year in Florida and the rest of his time in New York, but he was convinced that values in the Miami area would rise as the city became a more international destination. “I felt that it was probably going to ultimately be a pretty good investment,” he said. “All things considered, I think that’s how it turned out.” 

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For an additional $4 million, the buyer can also purchase a lower-level studio apartment, which Chanos said has been used for staff, and an ocean-facing cabana. 

Chanos, who is divorced, said he now spends most of his time in Florida. He is selling because he is an empty-nester and no longer needs “a 5,000-square-foot family apartment,” he said. His four children have grown up and moved out, he said, and he plans to downsize with his girlfriend to a single-family home in Coral Gables or Coconut Grove with a garden for his two dogs.

Residents of the Continuum, a two-tower beachfront complex, have access to a spa, a fitness center, and three swimming pools, according to Julian Johnston, Crystal Connors, Mick Duchon and Eloy Carmenate of the Corcoran Group, who have the listing for Chanos’s unit. The building’s penthouse, which was owned by Continuum developer Ian Bruce Eichner, set a record for the building when it sold for $35 million in 2021, they said.

Chanos gained fame in the early 2000s as a short seller of Enron stock. More recently, his company has taken short positions in companies such as Tesla and Beyond Meat, as well as real-estate companies that invest in data centers. Chanos’s New York penthouse, located on the Upper East Side, is also on the market, asking $23.5 million.

In Miami, prices are up while sales volume is down. In the first quarter, Miami Beach sales declined by about half compared with the same period of 2022, according to a report by Corcoran. In the South of Fifth neighborhood, where the Continuum is located, there were 57 first-quarter sales, compared with 118 during the same period last year, though the median price increased 7% to $1.2 million, according to the Corcoran report.