A lawyer paid $13.8 million for a waterfront Hibiscus Island mansion in Miami Beach that hosted Tibetan Buddhist masters.
Property records show Hoa Ngoc and Mai Pham Nguyen sold the house at 369 North Hibiscus Drive to Joseph J. Frank. Frank financed the purchase with a $9.6 million mortgage from Los Angeles-based City National Bank, records show.
Frank is the chief legal officer for Windsor, Connecticut-based SS&C Technologies, according to his LinkedIn. SS&C is the world’s largest hedge fund and private equity administrator, according to its website. It was founded in 1986 and has 24,000 employees.
Lisa Blake with Villazzo Realty represented the sellers, who hosted various Tibetan Buddhist-related events and regular meditations at the property, she said. Blake met the sellers through that close community connection, when the Dalai Lama of Tibet spoke at the University of Miami in 2011.
“She’s [Mai Pham Nguyen] very well connected with that circle,” she said.
The house was also home to Chakrasamvara Center, a nonprofit that has hosted a variety of Tibetan masters since 2004, said Colin Meyer, one of the center’s leaders.
The Nguyens bought the property in 1993 for $570,000, records show.
Built in 1954, the 8,216-square-foot mansion sits on a third of an acre lot. It comes with eight bedrooms, and 11 bathrooms, according to Realtor.com.
Blake said the sale was completed off-market, and that the property needs a gut renovation. But 90 feet of waterfront and a 15,000-square-foot lot made the sale easy, she added.
Bill Hernandez and Bryan Sereny with Douglas Elliman represented Frank. Sereny declined to comment on the deal.
Hibiscus Island, like much of South Florida, has experienced a surge in sales during the pandemic.
This month, mobile games tycoon Kevin Segalla and his wife, Michele Segalla, an investment manager, bought a waterfront spec mansion on Hibiscus Island for $29.1 million.
In April, Richard Gebbia, whose ex-sister-in-law was on “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” paid $6.4 million for a non-waterfront house at 112 West Palm Midway on Hibiscus Island. And In February, spec home developer Pascal Nicolai sold a waterfront home on Hibiscus Island to Sinan Tuna, CEO of Farmasi North America, for $15 million.