Miami’s Robert Rivani tries house-flipping on Billionaire’s Beach

Colorful developer enters Malibu luxury market with $42.5M listing for unfinished house

Black Lion’s Robert Rivani tries house flipping – on Billionaire’s Beach
Black Lion’s Robert Rivani with 22102 Pacific Coast Highway (Black Lion, MGI Design, Getty)

In the home-flipping tradition of buying low and selling high, Miami developer Robert Rivani is wagering to perform the feat in one of Southern California’s most expensive enclaves — Billionaire’s Beach in Malibu.

The colorful developer who runs Black Lion Investment Group and wears his hair in a mohawk listed a $42.5 million mansion along Malibu’s Carbon Beach, nicknamed Billionaire’s Beach, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The neighbors include business titans such as Larry Ellison and Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Rivani stripped the 1920s home down to its studs. He said he is going to wrap up an Aman Resort-inspired redo of 22102 Pacific Coast Highway by the first quarter of 2024, according to the Journal. The project is under construction.

Like every astute house flipper, he intends to make a nice profit. He purchased the 4,900-square-foot, beach front home for about $20 million in May 2022. Rivani bought the gold-plated fixer-upper from television executive Michael Lambert. 

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Chris Cortazzo of Compass serves as the listing agent.

Rivani may make a bonus from flipping the house. An unidentified friend bet Rivani a seven-figure sum that he couldn’t flip the home with the exclusive address. If Rivani fails, he’ll be liable for a gambling debt  to the friend. This project will be Rivani’s first luxe residential flip, according to the Journal.

When Rivani’s renovation is wrapped up, 22102 Pacific Coast Highway will offer a green-wall facade, a Zen garden, a sunlit infrared sauna, and a cantilevered hot tub.

Andrew Asch

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Michael Lambert with 22102 Pacific Coast Highway (Lambert Media Group, Chris Cortazzo, iStock)
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