Developer Zachary Vella paid $15.2 million for two adjacent waterfront Miami Beach lots where he plans to build a home for his family.
Lionel Masson, the founder and former CEO of Pharmacies Lafayette, a pharmacy chain in France, sold the properties at 228 and 302 West Dilido Drive on the Venetian Islands to the Vella Group CEO, according to the brokerages involved in the deal. They sold for $688 per square foot.
Natalia Gryczynska
Masson planned to build two spec homes on the lots, but due to the booming market decided to see what he could get if he sold the properties, said his broker, Jim Agard of Vendôme Capital. Natalia Gryczynska of Brown Harris Stevens represented Vella.
“We noticed what was happening in Miami Beach so we just gave a try at a high price and my client got the price he wanted,” Agard said. “We received multiple offers quickly and we found a buyer in less than a month.”
The sale beats the previous record for land on the Venetian Islands, which was the $6.5 million sale of 412 West Dilido Drive in 2016, Agard said, citing MLS data.
Vella is CEO of Vella Group and managing board member of the Magic City Innovation District development.
Property records show two LLCs led by Masson paid $11.5 million for the properties in 2018.
Jim Agard
Vella, who has been on Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing” series, is active in Miami. He replaced Bob Zangrillo as managing board member of the $1 billion Magic City project in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood in 2019. Once his home is completed, Vella will be around the corner from Zangrillo, who also lives on Di Lido Island. (Zangrillo is among dozens of parents who were indicted last year for their alleged participation in a major college admissions scandal.)
Tech investor Keith Rabois, a member of the “PayPal Mafia,” recently paid a record $28.9 million the waterfront mansion at 1429 North Venetian Way.
And vitamin mogul Andrew Lessman sold his waterfront Venetian Islands mansion to Banir Ganatra, the CEO of Americor, a debt settlement company, with plans to relocate from Newport Beach, California.