Cadus Corp, a publicly traded company backed by billionaire Carl Icahn, is building a collection of 11 homes throughout the coastal cities of Miami-Dade to be designed by Miami-based Strang Architecture.
Cadus tapped Max Strang’s firm to design the luxury homes and will break ground on the first property in Miami Beach’s Sunset Islands this month. The 11 spec homes will also be located in Miami, Surfside and Sunny Isles Beach, Strang told The Real Deal via email. And they’ll feature his “fin system,” which incorporates vertical solar shading elements in the design.
Rendering of one of the homes (click to enlarge)
The company bought the properties to develop spec homes, spending nearly $30 million as of September 2014, according to a press release. Prices for the plots, ranging from 7,500 square feet to $18,400 square feet, were between $1.2 million and $3.1 million. Eight had existing homes and three were vacant lots. Addresses were not disclosed.
Earlier this year, the Miami Beach Commission rejected an ordinance that would have limited the lot coverage and unit size of new single-family homes being built in the city.
Icahn, founder and majority shareholder of Icahn Enterprises, is a majority shareholder of Cadus, a former drug-discovery technologies company. As of 2014, it has shifted its focus to real estate, according to published reports. Icahn, who is worth about $21 billion as of 2015, was the former chairman of WCI Communities until it filed for bankruptcy in 2008.