South Beach Condos Blog

It seems that Key Biscayne hedge fund manager John Devaney, CEO of United Capital made a bad decision by investing in the mortage market right before it collapsed. 

According to TheStreet.com, Devaney put

“…one of his most prized possessions-a 142–foot Trinity yacht dubbed Positive Carry— up for sale along with his $16.5 million second-home in Aspen, CO.  The house, called Sardy House, is the site of the nations’ largest living Christmas tree.”

Well it seems Mr. Devaney is at it again.  He has listed a large collection of ultra-luxury estates on the tony Isle of Key Biscayne.  The combined list prices of the seven properties total $78.8M. The properties went on the market on Wednesday and have created pandemonium.  These parcels are said to be some of the most prime pieces of Key Biscayne real estate.

The most notable property for sale is the Scarface estate where Michelle Pfeiffer descends into the living room to greet “Tony” in the glass elevator.

Devaney is asking $38.5 big ones for that baby.

1. 485 W. Matheson Drive– $38.5M

2. 550 Harbor Cove– $10.4M

3. 780 Harbour Drive– $11.3M

4. 640 Sunset Circle-$8.3M

5. 530 Harbour Drive– $4.3M

6. 251 Harbour Drive– $3.1M

7. 255 Buttonwood-$2.9M 

Devaney bought the majority of the Key Biscayne properties in 03 & 04 and spent almost $32M acquiring the seven properties according to the Miami-Dade County records.

At one point, Devaney was a player in the failed Briny Breezes project.

Terry Bollea, aka Hulk Hogan, listed his home on prestigious North Bay Road. The home, built in 2006 and seen on the VH1 series, Hogan Knows Best, has 17,339 square feet, 6 bedroom main house with 2 full guest apartments for a total of 11 bedrooms! No word on why he is selling or where he is going next.  Hogan purchased the estate for $12M in April, 2006.

Today, The Herald wrote an AMAZING story on the evolution of South Beach.  I have been here since 1992.  I moved to Miami Beach one week after Hurricane Andrew.  Prior to that, I came to Miami Beach on vacation.  I used to attend the Winter Music Conference when attendance was about 300.  Now it is some out-of-control number like 30,000!

The evolution of South Beach has been truly amazing and one for the history books.  Like it or not, South Beach is so big, it is now a BRAND!  When I used to vacation here in the late 80s to early 90s, I could have never imagined that the place where I was standing and living would also be considered “the hippest place on earth.”

This is a picture of my friend Kelly and I prior to clubbing in 1992.  We were staying at the Avalon Hotel at 7th and Ocean Drive.  It was considered the coolest hotel at the time.

 I was watching a documentary on SoBe where Tara Solomon mentioned that, in the early days of SoBe, there was edgy glamour but NO money.  She was correct.  The buildings were still dumps, BUT the place oozed with cool.  The fashionistas made SoBe the epicenter of chic- not the chic SoBe is known for today- but chic in an underground sort of way.  You could feel the energy everywhere.

If you were “cool,” you were coming to South Beach.  Keep in mind, we WEREN’T coming to Miami, we were coming to Miami Beach.  I remember when South Beach started to pop.  I was here for the Winter Music Conference, which was held at the Fontainebleau.  Coincidentally, The Bodyguard, was being filmed at the Fontainebleau at the same time.  Wow!  Next came The Specialist, then on and on.

Madonna graced us with her presence back then, too.  Remember her “SEX” book in ‘92?  Here’s a page from it with Madge “hitching” a ride in Golden Beach.  Where else would this happen?  Sly came and so did Gianni Versace.  Does anybody remember the name of the MiMo- style hotel that he bought and demolished to create the pool area for “Casa Casuarina?”  I think it was the Revere.  Coincidentally, today is the 10th anniversary of his death.

Names like Louis Canales and Tara Solomon were the ones dropped most often if you wanted an entree into the “glamourous life.”  We all went out seven nights a week.  Remember the “Martini Club” and Cassis on Tuesdays, Warsaw on Wednesdays and on and on (and I mean on and on!)?

Here’s a trip down memory lane:

Semper’s, Egoiste, Hell, Club Nu, Deco’s, 1235, Shelly Novak on the top of the bus at the Marlin tea dance, The Spot, Gary James (he’s back), Avenue A, Michael Capponi (bigger than ever), Jorge Nunez, Andrew Cunanan, Paragon, A Fish Called Avalon, Velvet, Groove Jet, Jimmy Franzo (he used to be my trainer. I hear he’s in Vegas, baby), Rebar Monday nights-hell, Rebar every night!- The Strand, Follia, Fat Black Pussycat or “Fat Black,” John Hood (I hear he’s a writer now), PINKY!!!  Remember Pinky?  He’s on the show about Wilhelmina Models. Cafe Torino, I Tre Merli, The Whiskey, The Kitchen, ICON (the club; not the condo—we’ll get to that), David Padilla, Jaime Cardona (he knows Donatella - woo hoo!), Sinatra Bar, Scratch, Risk, Bar Room, Joia, Prive (is that still open?), Greg & Nicole Brier, Le Loft and Liquid (Studio 54 of SoBe).  Remember Cameo Sunday disco nights?  The Kremlin, Club Deuce, The Island Club, Les Bains Douche, Union Bar, WPA, Amnesia, Alex Duff, Mickey Rourke (he’s back), Debbie Ohanian, Kevin Aviance, crobar, Backdoor Bamby, Mynt, Chris Paciello,Ingrid Casares and Ellen Pompeo - that’s right, Meredith Grey herself.  We hung out, and she would flip through magazines trying to mimic Kate Moss’ poses. Funny! Ellen: call me! Paloma!! Patricia Fields, Esteban Cortazar (when he was, like, three-years-old!), Merle Weiss(she was a brunette then), Torpedo, OVO, Post Mortem, Bash. Tony Goldman, Barbara Hulanicki, Esther Percal, Gilbert Stafford, Joe Bon, Fabrizio Brienza, Horacio LeDon, Alan Randolph, Andrew Delaplaine, George Tamsitt, Cyn Zarco, Gingi Beltran, and Iran Issa Kahn.

Sound fun?  It was!  Non-stop.  When did it stop?  When the MONEY came.  I got into real estate at the suggestion of a friend in ‘94 (before everyone and their mother became a Realtor).  Real estate was just about to take off.  Lots and lots of money came pouring into these 20 blocks.  The Netherland on Ocean Drive was the first “luxury condo” that started the wave.  Portofino Tower was the building that would start it all.

Pretty soon there was sooo much money that we didn’t have time to party so much anymore because we were working - working our a**es off!  No time to play. 

South Beach made its reputation on the “beautiful people”.  Everyone was beautiful.  Money follows beauty.  Then came the restaurants, hotels, clubs, art, food, yachts, celebrities, more celebrities, multi-million dollar condos, international bon vivants, $40M homes, and on AND ON.  Pundits say that it is all going to end, but hey, they’ve been saying that for twenty years.

Lesley Abravanel from the Miami Herald reported in her blog that Madonna is house-hunting in Miami. While reading her article today , I felt that a couple things did not make sense:

1. If Madge was looking for privacy, Golden Beach would be the LAST place she would consider because the oceanfront homes are on a VERY public thoroughfare (A1A) and though beach is not private you CANNOT stop on the beach in this town.

2. I would have known about it.

So I made some calls.

Madonna is in LONDON. No plans to buy in Miami—-NADA.

You can tell it is summer in Miami—rumors and hearsay make their way to the front pages of newspapers and BREAKING NEWS on websites. I remember like a year or so ago when it was “reported” that Britney Spears was buying in Miami Beach, I received calls from media all over the country; and the girl never toured a single property. Actually she wasn’t even IN TOWN when it was reported that she was looking. AHH summertime in Miami!

Almost forgot, the Herald says Janet Jackson is looking to buy here in Miami.  She (Janet) has been threatening us with this for years! 

Oh, and please don’t be offended by the picture I chose; it’s not like we haven’t seen it ALL already!