A company tied to the family of U.K. billionaire Mike Ashley paid $5.1 million for a non-waterfront home on Miami Beach’s La Gorce Island, property records show.
Former sports gambling CEO Steven Budin and Melisse Budin sold the estate at 6655 Brevity Lane to Mash Brevity Lane LLLP, which is controlled by Ashley’s children, Anna, Oliver and Matilda.
Both the buyer and seller have ties to the sports world. Steve Budin, who led offshore and online sports gambling companies until a government crackdown on the industry in the late 1990s, later co-created SportsInfo.com, a pay-per-view sports handicapping company, according to Gambling911.com.
Mike Ashley founded Sports Direct, a U.K.-based sporting retailer, and he owns the Newcastle United Football Club. He’s worth about $3.3 billion, according to Forbes. Ashley transferred ownership of his waterfront estate nearby at 42 La Gorce Circle for $45 million to a company controlled by his son-in-law, Michael P. Murray, in April of last year.
The Ashleys just picked up the six-bedroom, nearly 7,600-square-foot home on Brevity Lane for $673 per square foot. It features a pool and deck, library, gourmet kitchen, Italian marble floors, Venetian plaster and a grand staircase. The property also has a master bedroom, three garden-view bedrooms, a two-car garage and a four-car carport, according to the listing.
Property records show Budin paid $978,000 for the 1936 home in 1998. It hit the market in March for $6.8 million, which means it sold at a 25 percent discount. The house sits on nearly 18,000 square feet.
Geane Brito of Chariff Realty Group represented the seller, and Esther Percal of EWM Realty International represented the buyer, according to Redfin. Percal said the buyers wanted to own an auxiliary property nearby.
“The market’s been challenging as we all know, but frankly every non-waterfront home [on the market] on La Gorce Island seems to be under contract,” she said. The Ashleys paid the lowest price per-square-foot for a non-waterfront La Gorce home of the four closed sales this year. The highest was the sale of 6650 Pine Tree Lane, which sold for $1,035 per square foot.