Jim Ferraro closes on Palazzo del Sol PH, sets Fisher Island record

UPDATED May 12, 2016, 1:30 p.m. Jim Ferraro has closed on his Palazzo del Sol penthouse, marking the first time a Fisher Island condo has sold for more than $3,200 per square foot and at a price of $21.5 million, The Real Deal has learned.

Dora Puig, director of sales and marketing for the new Palazzo Del Sol project, told TRD that attorney Ferraro closed Tuesday on his purchase of Penthouse 3 in the 10-story luxury building, the first new construction on Fisher Island in a decade.

Ferraro bought a 6,644-square-foot unit that features four bedrooms, four-and-a-half bathrooms, private elevator entry, 18-foot ceilings and a private rooftop terrace with its own swimming pool overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The rooftop terrace is designed by Swiss-born landscape designer Enzo Enea, Puig said.

“This is huge,” Puig told TRD. “Before Palazzo del Sol, the high sales for Fisher Island were $2,000 or $2,300 per square foot. About a month ago, there was one for $2,800 per square foot on a resale. With our building, we’ve raised the price on the island by at least 20 percent.”

The previous record for a condo sale on the island was less than $3,000 per square and less than $15 million, Puig said after a panel discussion on luxury real estate held in Miami’s Design District on Wednesday. 

An attorney who made his fortune litigating against chemical companies, Ferraro bought the new penthouse to upgrade from another penthouse on Fisher Island that serves as his primary residence.

“He wanted to be in the newest building,” Puig said. Palazzo del Sol offers a host of upscale amenities from a private massage room to a butler-serviced aperitivo bar serving coffees and cocktails, she said.

The 43-unit Palazzo del Sol received its temporary certificate of occupancy late March, and its first resident is moving in this week, Puig said. Ferraro is the first to close on a penthouse in the building. A second penthouse is under contract, and a third is up for sale for $26.5 million, she added.

Units in Palazzo del Sol range from roughly 3,800 square feet to 9,800 square feet. The developer is PDS Development LLC led by Henrich von Hanau of Austria and general contractor ASR.

Ferraro in October listed his current penthouse at 7482 Fisher Island Drive for $13.9 million. That five-bedroom, six-bathroom unit had 4,932 square feet, as TRD reported. Miami-Dade County records show he bought it for $3.5 million in October 2002, when it was built.

Accessible only by ferry or boat, Fisher Island is home to fewer than 1,000 families including athletes, entertainers, CEOs and billionaires. Its zip code ranks among the top nationwide for per-capita income.

Records show Ferraro financed the purchase of his new unit with a $5 million mortgage from City National Bank of Florida.

Correction: a previous version of this story had an incorrect number of bedrooms and bathrooms for the unit.