Benjamin Leon Jr., the founder and chairman of Leon Medical Centers, sold two lots in Gables Estates for nearly $14 million.
Toni Schrager and Saddy Delgado
The properties at 20 Casuarina Concourse were once the site of security firm CEO George Wackenhut’s medieval estate replica, which was later demolished. Now, Leon has subdivided the lots and sold them for $6.55 million and $7.3 million. Saddy Delgado of ONE Sotheby’s International Realty represented Leon in both deals, she told The Real Deal last month.
The larger, 60,245-square-foot sold for $7.3 million to Chilean architect Pablo Allamand, Avatar Real Estate’s Toni Schrager told TRD. Schrager represented Allamand, who plans to build an 18,000-square-foot mansion with 11 bedrooms, 360 feet of canal frontage, a home theater, game room and “all the things you can imagine,” Allamand said. He hired Gonzalo Mardones Vivani, a famous Chilean architect, to help design the property. Allamand said he will live in the house, which he called a “boater’s dream.”
“It’s one minute away from open waters but protected by the bay,” Allamand told TRD.
The deal breaks down to $121 per square foot. Allamand is also developing homes in Miami Beach, Pinecrest and Gables Estates.
The smaller, 52,502-square-foot lot sold for $6.55 million to Daniel Berrebi, chairman of Unishipping, a shipping firm. Records show Berrebi paid cash for the property, which allows for a 16,286-square-foot house. That sale comes out to about $125 per square foot. Jorge Uribe of ONE Sotheby’s represented the buyer.
Leon paid $10.65 million for the property in 2010, records show. A horse enthusiast, the Cuban-American businessman sold his father’s company Clínica Asociación Cubana (CAC) to UnitedHealthCare for $500 million in the early 1990s. He and his wife Silvia own a huge property at 620 Arvida Parkway, also in the Gables Estates neighborhood.
South Florida auto magnate Alan Potamkin and billionaire Mike Fernandez also live in the exclusive Coral Gables community. Potamkin put his massive estate on the market for $67 million last year, but then cut the ask down to $49 million in February.