Luxury jeweler Paul Morelli sold his waterfront North Bay Road mansion in Miami Beach as a teardown for $22.9 million.
Records show Morelli sold the house at 2700 North Bay Road to 2700 What’s Next Land Trust, with Boston-based JDJ Family Office Services partner Kylie Ruschioni signing on behalf of the buyer.
Julian Johnston of Corcoran Group had the listing. One Sotheby’s International Realty agents Marko Gojanovic and Reid Heidenry brought the buyer. Johnston confirmed the buyer is from the West Coast and intends to tear down the existing mansion.
Morelli heads his eponymous jewelry line the House of Paul Morelli, which is sold in luxury retailers like Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Betteridge. The company started as his family’s Philadelphia-based theater costumery, before he steered it toward fine jewelry in the 1970’s, according to Morelli’s website.
The jeweler bought the North Bay Road home for $17.5 million in 2021, just a few months after he also dropped $11.5 million on a waterfront Hibiscus Island home. Built in 1925, the North Bay Road mansion spans more than 10,100 square feet, with 11 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms and three half-bathrooms, according to the listing. The 0.6-acre property includes a guest house, gym, 100 feet of waterfront, pool, dock, and boatlift.
According to Johnston, Morelli rented the home to Jennifer Lopez for a brief period of time. Like the buyer, Morelli also intended to demolish the mansion and build a new home, but is now planning to buy a bigger plot of land in the Miami area, Johnston said.
Morelli initially hoped to almost double his money on the mansion, first listing it for $34 million in May of last year, Redfin shows. The sale price marks a 30.7 percent gain on his purchase price in two years.
Prices for waterfront Miami Beach homes have surged in recent years, with supply low and demand at an all-time high. Pascal Nicolai’s Sabal Development sold a waterfront spec mansion on the Venetian Islands for $21 million earlier this month, making it the highest priced sale on the Venetians this year. Also this month, top brokers Tal and Oren Alexander, along with their brother Alon, sold their waterfront mansion on Miami Beach’s Flamingo Drive for $27.5 million.