BurgerFi founder puts Las Olas manse back on market after a year: $12M

John Rosatti is in the business of flipping burgers, and now he wants to flip his waterfront home.

Rosatti, the founder of BurgerFi, has listed his Fort Lauderdale mansion for $11.95 million, a year after buying it for $12 million.

Chris Leavitt, director of luxury sales for Douglas Elliman, has the listing. He told The Real Deal that Rosatti is selling because of  “a change of lifestyle.” And the price hasn’t risen in a year because Rosatti is being “realistic,” and it is not because of any financial hardship.

“We’re still in a similar market that we were in last year,” Leavitt said.

The 10,149-square-foot home at 315 Royal Plaza Drive, fronts one of the long canals that stretch from East Las Olas Boulevard. 

Entrepreneur and BurgerFi founder John Rosatti

The property includes a two-story house that is U-shaped, with a central courtyard that’s decorated with palm trees and a pool near the canal. Features include an automobile museum, a wine cellar and 310 feet of water frontage, according to the listing.

“It’s big, it’s grand, it’s fabulous, it’s over the top, but it’s cozy at the same time,” Leavitt said.

The sale includes a next-door garage that the previous owners built in 2007. Together the properties make up 0.8 acres of waterfront land. Rosatti took out a $7.2 million mortgage from Wells Fargo Bank last year to finance the deal.

Both properties were previously sold to Rosatti by Mayer Shirazipour and his wife Gabrielle Shirazipour. The two own Aero Toy Store, a Fort Lauderdale-based dealer of private jets and helicopters. They paid $6.65 million for the home and its accompanying lot in 2005.

Broward County records show that the couple had been served judgment papers last year for loans on the house from Bank of America and MBG Finance Holdings. They were ordered to pay a total of $1.686 million to Bank of America and $960,519 to MGB, including attorney fees.

Rosatti is a self-described businessman and entrepreneur, whose ventures began in the automotive industry in Brooklyn. His first major project was the Brooklyn Auto Mall, which helped him buy more dealerships in the surrounding area, and eventually in Nevada and Florida, according to his website.

His fast casual chain BurgerFi, which he started in Lauderdale-by-the Sea in 2011, is expanding throughout the country. The company currently has nearly 100 restaurants in more than 20 states nationwide and internationally, BurgerFi’s website says.