Nursing home magnate buys condo at One Thousand Museum

Closings at the 84-unit downtown Miami condo tower began in July

W. Bruce Lunsford and One Thousand Museum (Credit: Wikimedia, One Thousand Museum)
W. Bruce Lunsford and One Thousand Museum (Credit: Wikimedia, One Thousand Museum)

A Kentucky nursing home magnate and former U.S. Senate candidate paid $6.3 million for a unit at Zaha Hadid’s One Thousand Museum.

W. Bruce Lunsford bought unit 3601 at 1000 Biscayne Boulevard, marking the fourth recorded closing at the new luxury condo tower in downtown Miami. Last week, Christopher Dupuy, the founder of Pals Group, which owns the popular Lakay Food, closed on a unit for $5.3 million.

Lunsford co-founded Vencor in 1985, which owned a number of nursing homes throughout the country. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1999 after the federal government reduced Medicare reimbursement rates.

He also won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in 2018 and lost in a close race to incumbent Republican Mitch McConnell.

Developers Louis Birdman, Gilberto Bomeny, Gregg Covin and Kevin Venger, along with the late Hadid, broke ground on the 62-story, 84-unit luxury condo tower at 1000 Biscayne Boulevard in December 2014. Todd Michael Glaser is also a partner in the project.

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The building, Hadid’s first and final residential project in the western hemisphere, is known for its exoskeleton, which incorporates 4,800 precast panels made in Dubai and shipped to Miami. The complicated construction was featured on PBS’ “Impossible Builds” series. Plaza Construction was the general contractor.

Hadid, a Pritzker Prize-winning architect, died in Miami Beach in 2016, after suffering a heart attack while being treated for bronchitis.

The tower is at least 60 percent sold, according to multiple reports. Full floor units go up to more than $24 million. Artefacto, B&B Italia, Roche Bobois, Meridiani, Luxury Living Group and Morada Haute Furniture Design are completing the interiors of some units, according to a release.

One Thousand Museum includes a rooftop helipad, a wellness center with a gym and yoga facilities, relaxation pods and spa rooms, a sky lounge, a bank vault, a multimedia theater, an off-site beach club and 8 Juice Bar by Raw Republic.