European buyers flock to Miami Beach’s Hibiscus Island

429 North Hibiscus Drive and 350 South Hibiscus Drive
429 North Hibiscus Drive and 350 South Hibiscus Drive

A set of European buyers are acquiring multimillion-dollar waterfront homes in Hibiscus Island, with three sales in the past month, The Real Deal has learned.

Despite the decline in foreign currencies, including the Euro and Russian ruble, “European buyers are still attracted to moving to Miami Beach as it becomes an international city,” real estate agent Julian Johnston told TRD.

Earlier this month, the 5,643-square-foot house at 429 North Hibiscus Drive sold to a buyer from Switzerland who plans to redevelop it and build his dream home, according to Johnston, who represented the buyer and seller. The five-bedroom, four-bathroom home was built in 1994, according to Miami-Dade property records. It sits on a 13,781 square foot lot.

Hibiscus Island, just north of Palm Island, off the MacArthur Causeway, is home to only two vacant waterfront lots, property records show. In March, Al Capone’s former mansion at 93 Palm Island Avenue on Palm Island, it was announced that the estate was being renovated into a production, filming and photo shoot venue. A wealthy, Northern Italian industrialist family bought the property in April 2013 for $8 million.

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“Europeans want bigger lots,” Johnston said. “There’s a lot of new construction, and the majority [of buyers] are end-users.”

A Russian buyer, Anatoly Petukhov, paid $7 million for the 15,750-square-foot property at 350 South Hibiscus Drive at the end of May, according to Miami-Dade County records. Irina Poliskiy represented the buyer, and Hilda Mendez Jacobson represented the seller, an LLC tied to Coral Gables-based AJP Ventures. The 4,251-square-foot house was built in 1976, property records show.

Down the street, Petukhov bought another house: a 10,500-square-foot property at 280 South Hibiscus Drive for $7.9 million, according to county records. Johnston, of Calibre Realty, represented the seller, which was a Swiss trust. The sale closed at the end of May and has yet to be recorded. Irina Poliskiy represented the buyer.

The 6,200-square-foot waterfront house is now available for rent for $40,000 a month, according to a Zillow listing. Yaroslav Poliskiy of Monolith Real Estate is the listing agent.