Luxury home developers Felix Cohen and Shlomy Alexander sold a waterfront spec home for $25 million that they built on the Sunset Islands, The Real Deal has learned.
Cohen and his son, Julian Cohen, and Alexander sold the six-bedroom, 6,560-square-foot house at 1825 West 24th Street, the developers said. Julian Cohen of The Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker and Douglas Elliman broker Oren Alexander, Shlomy Alexander’s son, represented their fathers in the deal.
The Alexanders and the Cohens declined to disclose the identity of the buyer. Melisa Azran Attias of Beachfront Realty represented the buyer. She declined to disclose the buyer’s identity.
The bayfront home, on Sunset Island III, sold for a record $3,811 per square foot, the developers said. It sold a day before it was going to be listed for sale, they added.
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“Most of the people, including our children, believed we would not get more than $16 million,” for the house, Shlomy Alexander said.
“People were making fun of us,” Felix Cohen added. “The proof is in the pudding.”
Property records show a company led by Cohen paid close to $5.3 million for the 0.3-acre lot in 2019. The developers used plans designed by architect Kobi Karp, they said.
The house took more than two years to complete, in part due to the delay with custom materials and permitting. It sold furnished, and Cohen and Alexander said the buyer kept the $250,000 furniture package from Minotti. The property features tropical landscaping, a pool and dock.
“I think most of the houses in Miami are cookie-cutters,” Alexander said. “We do the opposite.”
Alexander said the delays ended up working in the developers’ favor. The market for high-end, waterfront homes, especially new construction, has become incredibly strong and competitive in South Florida over the past year. A number of properties have set city and neighborhood records.
The sellers said they received a backup offer for $3 million more than the price paid by the undisclosed buyer.
Earlier this year on the Sunset Islands, a waterfront mansion sold for $24.8 million. The buyer was Don Mullen, the former Goldman Sachs executive who bet against the U.S. housing market in what became called “the big short.” In May, Kawa Capital Management co-founder Alexandre Saverin and his wife sold their waterfront home on Sunset Island IV for $13 million.
The elder Alexander, who is founder and president of the Alexander Group, and Cohen have been developing homes for nearly 30 years. They co-developed the waterfront mansion at 3 Indian Creek Island Road that previously set single-family home price records twice in Miami-Dade County.