A waterfront compound in Gables Estates spanning more than 5 acres — nearly 9 acres if the surrounding land is included — with tennis courts, a pool and cabana, manicured lawns and a motor court is not on the market, but it is quietly being marketed as a whisper listing. The rumored purchase price for the resort-style home? $400 million, sources told The Real Deal.
Healthcare industry billionaire Mike Fernandez, founder and chairman of the Coral Gables-based private equity firm MBF Healthcare Partners, is the owner of the peninsula-shaped property at 1 Arvida Parkway.
The estate is at the top of a group of homes that owners are looking to sell off-market, with price tags that mostly range from $100 million to over $200 million. They’re not on the Multiple Listing Service, in part because some sellers are testing the market, and others are trying to guard their privacy, agents told TRD.
“There’s still a lot of cache to that off-market buzz,” said Douglas Elliman agent Dina Goldentayer. But the whisper listing, she added, “still carries with it a lot of skepticism. Buyers still question if this person is a seller at all.”
Private vs. public
Fernandez filed for divorce earlier this year, seeking to enforce the wedding-day prenuptial agreement signed with his wife of 25 years, Constance Tolevich Fernandez. Court filings state the home is worth more than $250 million. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fernandez paid $20.6 million for the main property in 2004, $6.3 million for a waterfront lot next door in 2003, and $9.5 million for the waterfront lot on the other side of the property in 2015, for a total of $36.4 million. The estate was developed in 2010, records show.
The Miami businessman hired Mayi de la Vega of One Sotheby’s International Realty and Judy Zeder of the Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker, according to sources. The two brokers did not respond to requests for comment.
Not all of the property owners seeking big payoffs are using real estate agents.
Robert Wennett, who developed 1111 Lincoln Road, the mixed-use building where he lives, is open to offers in the $100 million range for his penthouse, according to sources. Wennett also did not respond to a request for comment.
Nearly a decade ago, he listed the 7,700-square-foot condo for $34 million. The property comes with 18,000 square feet of outdoor space, seven bedrooms, a pool and landscaping by Raymond Jungles. The building, one of Miami Beach’s most recognizable, was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Herzog & de Meuron.
The waterfront estate at 30 La Gorce Circle in Miami Beach is also available off-market. Jill Hertzberg of the Jills Zeder Group has the pocket listing. Agents said the property is asking about $210 million, but Hertzberg insisted there is no price.
She said it’s “one of the rarest waterfront properties in Miami” that was built to the highest standard. Hertzberg declined to comment on the ownership, but property records show Betsy Sherman owns the 18,000-square-foot mansion. Sherman and her late husband, Miami businessman George Sherman, had the estate built in 2015. It sits on a 1.2-acre lot on the southwest corner of La Gorce Island.
Lourdes Alatriste, an agent with Douglas Elliman, said she has pocket listings in the $100 million-plus range. Some of her clients are testing the waters.
Buyers are looking for “a brand new house with all the bells and whistles on a good piece of land” in the right location, she said.
Alatriste declined to disclose addresses, but the properties include a $125 million listing in Key Biscayne and a $120 million listing in Coconut Grove. The trendy Miami neighborhood is also where Larry Page, a billionaire Google co-founder, spent roughly $188 million on three properties earlier this year.
The owners of the Coconut Grove home turned down a $100 million offer, Alatriste said.
Compass agent Nancy Batchelor said the pocket listings are a great tool for sellers who need privacy. (Compass is also leading the fight for its private exclusives platform.)
But she also noted that off-market listings can take more effort, only for the seller to potentially change their mind. The increase in buyers and sellers requiring nondisclosure agreements has also made it trickier to share information with prospective buyers.
Some clients, “just don’t want everything out in the open,” she said.
Top agents noted that many of the big sales recently have been on-market.
In February, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, one of the 10 wealthiest people in the world, paid $170 million for the mansion at 7 Indian Creek Island Road, which is in a guard-gated island town. Danny and Jill Hertzberg with the Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker Realty were the listing agents for the 2-acre property, which was asking $200 million.
“A lot of the big sales taking place, they’ve taken place on the MLS,” Goldentayer said. But buyers, she added, just want the best of the best, “trophy, record-breaking” homes.
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