A waterfront property on North Bay Road, once owned by former Formula One race car driver Eddie Irvine, sold for $7 million after being tied up in litigation for more than a decade.
Jennifer Taplin Sazant and Neil Sazant bought the vacant lot at 4424 North Bay Road in Miami Beach, said Karen Stauber of the Jills Zeder Group of Coldwell Banker, who represented the buyers in the deal. They plan to build a home to live in, designed by architect Kobi Karp, Stauber said. Taplin Sazant is the daughter of the late Marty Taplin, who owned the Sagamore Hotel South Beach.
The 15,800-square-foot lot sold for $443 per square foot. The seller was JP Morgan Chase Bank, records show. Lindsay McMinn of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty represented the seller. The property had been listed for nearly $7.5 million.
The bank took over the property through foreclosure in 2017. Gabriel Martin, a former Miami lawyer, and former property owner Jason Zabaleta, were allegedly involved in mortgage fraud on the former home. Martin had been hired as the closing agent for the buyer in Irvine’s sale of the house in 2005, according to published reports. The foreclosure litigation began in 2009. The previous home was torn down last year, McMinn said.
North Bay Road has attracted some of the priciest sales in Miami Beach. In August, a California buyer purchased a waterfront spec mansion at 6360 North Bay Road for $23.85 million and a lot next door at 6342 North Bay Road for $11.55 million. The combined $35.4 million sale marked a record for the year in Miami Beach.
Among other sales on North Bay Road, Yext founder and CEO Howard Lerman paid $17 million for a spec mansion at 6010 North Bay Road in February. In July, Karp and his wife Nancy paid $8.5 million for the home at 4750 North Bay Road.
Other high-profile homeowners on North Bay Road include Starwood Property Trust’s Barry Sternlicht, JDS Development’s Michael Stern, singer-songwriter Phil Collins, and basketball stars Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.