Investor buys Lopez and Anthony’s Icon Brickell unit out of foreclosure

In a bizarre series of events, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony’s Icon Brickell condominium was sold out of foreclosure, although the former couple doesn’t appear to be suffering from financial distress.

According to Kevin Dickenson, an agent in Prudential Florida Realty’s Palm Beach Garden office, Anthony and Lopez never actually owned the condo they were widely reported to have bought in late 2009. Instead, developer Jorge Perez, CEO of the Related Group, offered a unit to them as a rental with an option to buy, in order to raise publicity for the building. (Sure enough prices per square-foot have increased since the news spread.)

In May 2010, HSBC siezed the 1276 remaining units in the three-tower, 1800-unit complex from Perez in a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure deal. Last week an undisclosed investor purchased the entertainment couple’s unit for $1.5 million and assumed their option — not only because they are no longer an item, but also because they could have stepped in and bought the unit ahead of the actual buyer. — Adam Fusfeld