UPDATED, Jan. 2, 6:20 p.m.: Could Miami Beach become the next destination for buyers seeking health and longevity?
Author Dan Buettner, who discovered the five places in the world — dubbed blue zones — where people live the longest and healthiest lives, bought a condo at the Continuum South Beach for $5.55 million, The Real Deal has learned.
Buettner purchased unit 606 at 100 South Pointe Drive in Miami Beach’s South-of-Fifth neighborhood, according to sources. The 2,508-square-foot condo has three bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms, records show. The price equates to $2,213 per square foot.
The seller is Marismado LLC, led by Juan Carlos Guerrero Blanco. The entity paid $4 million for the unit in 2013, according to records. It was most recently listed for $6.495 million.
Dina Goldentayer of Douglas Elliman represented the seller, but Elliman declined to comment on the buyer. The Jills Zeder Group of Coldwell Banker represented the buyer.
Jill Eber of the Jills Zeder Group said Buettner began his search in Daytona Beach in 2018 when he decided to move to Florida. “He looked at every major city on the East Coast before settling on Miami,” she said via email.
The renovated unit includes a staff room with full bath, according to the listing. Other features include a kitchen with Miele & Sub-Zero appliances and Calacatta marble counters and custom closets by Ornare.
The two-tower Continuum, developed by Ian Bruce Eichner in 2003, features two lagoon-style pools, one lap pool, three clay tennis courts and a 20,000-square-foot fitness center and spa.
Eichner owns an 11,031-square-foot, seven-bedroom unit at the development, and slashed the price to $39.9 million in November, marking a 20 percent cut below its original $50 million ask.
In July, Alberto “Beto” Pérez, the creator of Zumba, paid $5.5 million for unit 2704 in the North tower of the Continuum.
The latest buyer, Buettner, is a self-described explorer, journalist, producer and New York Times bestselling author, according to his bio on the Blue Zones website. Buettner’s books include: The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest; Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way; The Blue Zones Solution: Eating and Living Like the World’s Healthiest People; and The Blue Zones of Happiness.
In 2017, he and Dan Witters of Gallup put together the National Geographic Happiest Places list of 25 U.S. cities. The only areas of Florida to make the list were North Port/Sarasota/Bradenton and Naples/Immokalee/Marco Island.