Crane mogul drops $12M on waterfront Fort Lauderdale mansion

The owner of a major crane company picked up a waterfront mansion in Fort Lauderdale for $12.2 million.

Thomas G. Auringer, owner of U.S. Crane & Rigging, closed on the six-bedroom, 9,348-square-foot estate at 2300 Aqua Vista Boulevard, according to property records. Sun Aqua Vista, led by son and father Alexandre and Gerard Rodriguez, sold the house.

Gerard owned The Rodriguez Group, a Cannes, France-based luxury yacht dealer. In 2010, Alexandre, then chairman, was arrested and charged with money laundering, harboring criminals and misusing corporate assets, the New York Times reported at the time. The family business had become one of the world’s leading yachting companies.

Property records show Sun Aqua Vista paid $7.5 million for the Fort Lauderdale home in 2005. It hit the market in 2017 for $17.9 million, and most recently was asking nearly $14 million with James Morlock of Fidelity Real Estate LLC, according to Realtor.com.

The listing advertises the property as a “super yacht haven” with 550 feet of deep water frontage on a corner lot in the Seven Isles neighborhood.

The mansion includes high ceilings, a fireplace, bar and billiards, a lounge and outdoor dining area overlooking the water, a professional kitchen and a master suite on the first floor.

Auringer’s company is a heavy industrial crane and rigging company based in Brooklyn. In 2017, the Times Herald-Record reported that Aubinger had three big projects in the works, including a $27 million, 66,200-square-foot facility in Port Jervis, New York, but was facing union opposition.

The Fort Lauderdale mansion is near the former estate of rapper Rick Ross. Ross’ mother sold that property, a 10,000-square-foot mansion at 2328 Aqua Vista Boulevard, in 2016 for $6 million.