Gil Dezer’s Porsche Design Tower has finally begun turning over its units to buyers after more than three years of construction, with its current tally of sales resting at $760 million.
But Dezer, who as recently as October said Dezer Development wasn’t planning on launching a new project in the near future, is already eyeing his next car-branded condo tower.
He told The Real Deal that within the next six months, he plans on announcing plans for another luxury tower with a car elevator, much like the Porsche Design Tower’s, along with a new luxury automobile partnership.
“I was thinking that the cycle was going to come to a lull,” he said. “But now my friend Donald [Trump] is going to be taking office. Now it’s gung-ho time to start doing buildings.”
He declined to disclose where the new project would be built, saying only that it would be in Sunny Isles Beach. He did exclude his 5-acre holdings on the city’s western side because a large part of it is still under contract for the next two years with seller Publix Super Markets.
As far as branding goes, Porsche is off the table because it would dilute the value of his newly opened project, he said. That leaves a host of other luxe cars Dezer has in his personal collection, ranging from Maseratis to Ferraris, all of which he showed off on a recent episode of CNBC’s “Secret Lives of the Super Rich.”
Though the 60-story Porsche Design Tower received its temporary certificate of occupancy this month, which allows closings to take place, Dezer said the building at 18555 Collins Avenue still needs last-minute additions like lobby and pool furniture, as well as paint in certain areas. That will likely take another 30 to 45 days to complete.
So far, 126 of the luxury tower’s 132 units have been sold, totaling about $760 million of the project’s planned $840 million sellout. Of the six remaining units, two are penthouses boasting an ask of $32.5 million. He declined to name the average price per square foot. Dezer broke ground on the building in 2013, and he said the project’s opening came about “three months and a week” late.
Roughly 40 of Porsche’s buyers will live in the building full-time, Dezer said. The developer also claimed 22 billionaires have purchased units in the building, though TRD could not independently verify that fact as closings have yet to be recorded in county property records.
By far, the project’s most widely publicized feature is its car elevator, which hoists residents and their automobiles to any of the tower’s condos. The beachfront project’s other features include balcony plunge pools, racing and golf simulators, plus for-sale “man caves.”
The project and its development team are currently tangled in a lawsuit with Porsche’s neighbor, the Millenium Condo Association, which alleges Porsche’s foundation work left cracks in the Millenium building’s structure.