It's a sign of just how obscene the Miami real estate market is, when a nice but ultimately not particularly outstanding Mediterranean Revival number on Miami Beach attempts to get over four times the price it sold for 11 years ago.
When you take a spectacular piece of early modernist architecture, such as this streamlined moderne house on Pine Tree Drive by important Miami Beach architect Igor Polevitzkty, and give it some bland contemporary renovations that are supposed to "improve" it while blending in with the existing architecture, the results often leave something to be desired.
Designed by Achille Salvagni, an Italian designer and architect who has done some incredible yacht interiors but also has a flair for midcentury Italian design, this 7,400 square foot new-build in Mid-Beach was designed almost like a superyacht itself. The house has curvilinear lines and fabulous materials, creating custom elements like a kitchen that looks more like a sculptural art installation than a place to make food, and a bronze and gold grand staircase. It's also got a pool that, at 90 feet in length, spans almost the entire 111-foot width of the property itself. Originally listed for $21 million in March, it got a price cut to $19 million, according to the MLS, in May.
This historic Miami Beach house, designed by architects Phineas Paist and Harold Steward in 1934, has been thoroughly updated while retaining many of the historic details that made it special--such as the wood panelling in the foyer and the plasterwork on the dining room ceiling--and likely losing other bits.
Ximena Caminos, who blew into town alongside her now ex-husband, Alan Faena, to buy up much of Mid Beach and turn it all into the Faena District, a theatrical, over-the-top, and fantastical mini-neighborhood, is selling her unique home on Pine Tree Drive in Miami Beach for $6.25 million.
The huge house at 6385 Pinetree Drive Circle in Miami Beach, an historic Mediterranean Revival des res, last sold for $19 million in 2016 when Miami's luxury market was hot hot hot. Since then, things have cooled a bit. Earlier this year, the lavish palazzo was put back on the market for $22.5 million, and hasn't budged for 210 days. That's 8 months. Two thirds of a year. You get the picture.
Miami Beach's high stakes real estate market can sometimes put older, architecturally significant houses in jeopardy due to the market's demand for the newest, the biggest, and the most tricked out. This makes the preservation and restoration of older houses on the brink of demolition all the more significant.Â
One of the most iconic houses on Miami Beach's Pine Tree Drive, which is rumored to be owned by an Arab sheik or oligarch or somebody, and was originally owned by one of the founding families of Miami Beach, the Collinses, is on the market for $21.95 million. Listed for $25 million a year ago, the house has sat on the market unsold since.
