Barry Sternlicht picks up Miami Beach land for $17M

A rendering for a home that could occupy 2374 North Bay Road (credit: Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design), and the vacant lot prior to construction
A rendering for a home that could occupy 2374 North Bay Road (credit: Kobi Karp Architecture & Interior Design), and the vacant lot prior to construction

A waterfront lot on North Bay Road just sold for $17 million to an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group, an investment company with about $42 billion in assets under its control.

The property, at 2374 North Bay Road, was purchased by a company titled BSS Miami in a deed filed in Miami-Dade County records on Friday. That company also filed a notice of commencement to build a single-family home on the 0.7-acre lot, which was signed by Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood.

Barry Sternlicht, CEO of Starwood Capital (credit: Marc Becker)

Barry Sternlicht, CEO of Starwood Capital (credit: Marc Becker)

The lot was sold by Bart Reines, head of the Bart Reines Construction company. Reines’ company was named on the commencement as the home’s contractor. He has built a number of homes on Miami Beach, the Sunset Islands and La Gorce Island, according to the company’s website.

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Reines purchased the property for $10.2 million in 2014 — nearly $9 million more than it last traded for in 1999 — but he still walked away with a hefty profit from the sale this year.

He also apparently kept the contract to a build a home on the site, which the South Florida Business Journal reported had been under construction ever since Reines first purchased the land.

Kobi Karp, a well-known architect in South Florida, has a rendering for a mansion at the North Bay Road lot on his firm’s website. Kobi Karp Architecture is also named as a contractor for the site in a May 2014 building permit.

Sternlicht was part of a joint venture with developer Richard LeFrak that recently completed the 1 Hotel & Homes on Miami Beach. The 426-room hotel opened in March, and more than 100 of the development’s 156 condos have been sold.