Two South Florida estates sell for nearly $49 million
South Florida’s high-end housing market is heating up with the $25.5 million sale of a
In what is believed to be the most expensive Miami Beach residential sale since 2006, Denver oil executive Thomas H. Morgan on Thursday sold the house at 13 Star Island for $25.5 million to Delaware corporation E&A Estates LLC.
Morgan confirmed the all-cash sale in a phone interview on Friday. He acquired the then-vacant 0.92-acre property for $3.75 million in 2000 and built a two-story, 15,000-square-foot mansion in 2003.
Ratner and Morgan declined to identify the principals of E&A Estates.
E&A was represented by Bermuda attorney Wendell Hollis, according to a March 18 document filed with
Hollis declined comment.
The bayfront home has nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, and an in-ground swimming pool. Morgan, who has owned several condominiums and houses in
One of Morgan’s rental tenants was E&A, which helped facilitate the sale, he said.
Morgan initially sought $32 million for the house but was “very happy” with the final sale price.
“It never officially hit the market,” Morgan said. “I was approached by someone who wanted to purchase it several weeks before we went under contract.”
USA Commercial Residential sales agent Charles Afton represented E&A in negotiations.
The E&A principals “were familiar friends of the house and enjoyed staying here,” he said. “Great waterfront houses like this are few and far between. There is an opportunity now for people to get their dream houses at realistic values.”
While 13 Star Island is considered a unique property that “is probably the nicest house in
“Buyers are back in the market and increasing offers to the point of motivating sellers,” he said.
According to Ratner, the sale is the most expensive recorded transaction involving a single-family home in
In the town of
Black, a Canadian who served two years in
The buyer of the five-bedroom, nine-bathroom estate is The 1930 South Ocean Boulevard Trust, with West Palm Beach attorney Maura Ziska the trustee.
Calls to Ziska were not returned.
Black paid $9.9 million for the 38-year old home in 1997.
The deal is the second-most expensive in the town in 2011, behind the $26.43 million sale on March 28 of a house at
Black has ties to
The deal became known in
The media companies run by Black and Asper, who died in 2003, later filed for bankruptcy.
Broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates handled the
Corcoran Group broker Paulette Koch, who with her son Dana represented the buyers, said they are Californians who most recently lived on
Koch said the town of