The new owners of Miami Heat president Pat Riley‘s former Coral Gables home are planning to demolish the sprawling mansion, the Miami Herald reported. Riley sold the 12,856-square-foot Mediterranean-style mansion to a company called 180 Arvida last March for $16.8 million.
But it seems that the lot, not the house, was the buyer’s target. The nearly two acres of land and 900 linear feet of waterfront looking over Biscayne Bay will soon be home to an even grander estate.
“Most people would move in and be perfectly happy, but clients are looking for perfection — really good stuff,” Jorge Uribe, a senior vice president at One Sotheby’s International Realty, said. “The trend in the last several years is a demand for very high-quality product. People are looking for really good locations, really good materials, and they’re willing to pay for it.” Uribe wasn’t involved in the Riley deal but he sold an even larger property last year for $39.4 million at 14 Indian Creek Drive. [Miami Herald] —Christopher Cameron