Italkraft owner buys waterfront Venetian Islands lot

The owner of luxury cabinetry maker Italkraft bought a waterfront Venetian Islands vacant lot.

Records show an entity managed by Alex Xakoustis bought the house at 1384 South Venetian Way on San Marco Island in Miami from the trust of Gertrude Shafer for $11.5 million. Nelson Gonzalez of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty represented both the buyer and the seller.

Xakoustis is president of Italkraft, the Miami-based maker of kitchen, bath and closet cabinetry. 

Shafer is based in Brooklyn, New York. Records show she provided $8 million in seller financing for the deal.

The property previously sold for $3.9 million in 2006, records show. The buyer was developer Michael Stern (not the Michael Stern of JDS Development) and his wife, Layne Stern. They lost the house in a bankruptcy case in 2011, and criminal defense attorney Samuel I. Burstyn assumed ownership of the home, records show. Burstyn transferred the deed to Shafer in May for $100.

The existing home was deemed an unsafe structure and was recently torn down, Gonzalez confirmed. The 0.3-acre San Marco Island lot has 104 feet of waterfront, compared to the 60 feet of waterfront most lots on the island have, he said. 

Shafer listed it for $12.9 million in June, Redfin shows. Gonzalez said Xakoustis, who owns another San Marco Island home, saw that this South Venetian Way lot has expanded waterfront and wide views and decided to build a home for himself there. 

Records show he bought the house at 1301 North Venetian Way for $3.3 million in 2017. He is currently building a home on that lot, Gonzalez confirmed. 

He also owns an Icon Bay condo in Miami that he bought for $832,900 in 2015, according to property records.   

Following the pandemic boom years, inventory on the Venetian Islands is low, Gonzalez said. Spec developer Pascal Nicolai sold a waterfront home for $21 million in June, marking the priciest sale on the islands this year. In May, developer Alex Sapir listed an adjacent pair of waterfront San Marino Island homes for $54 million. 

While sales have slowed on the Venetian Islands, Gonzalez said the Miami area is in for a busy winter season.

“The last two weeks, it’s starting to get insane again,” he said. “I’m expecting good things.”