Toronto financier pays $14M for Sunset Islands home

The home sold for $3,647 psf

2138 Bay Avenue, Miami Beach (Credit: Google Maps)
2138 Bay Avenue, Miami Beach (Credit: Google Maps)

A Toronto financier paid $14.3 million for a waterfront home in Miami Beach’s Sunset Islands that will likely be torn down.

Marilyn Melcher sold the home at 2138 Bay Avenue on Sunset Island I, records show. The buyer is 2138 Bay Home LLC, which is tied to Ronald Schmeichel, CEO of Toronto-based JJR Capital.

The home spans 3,920 square feet, equating to a price of $3,647 per square foot. Built in 1937 on about half an acre, it has four bedrooms and four bathrooms, records show.

Julian Johnston of the Corcoran Group brokered the off-market deal.

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Schmeichel’s company specializes in financing small- to mid-market companies in the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean and South America, according to its website.

Melcher’s late husband Harold Melcher ran a food processing company, Trenton Foods, based in Trenton, Missouri. The company was eventually sold to Carnation Co. in 1966. He became president of the Trenton Foods Division of Carnation before retiring from Carnation in 1986 after it was acquired by Nestle. He died in February, according to a published obituary.

The gated Sunset Islands have seen an uptick in activity over the past year.

In December, the founder of the popular South Beach Diet Dr. Arthur Agatston and his wife, Sari Agatston, sold their waterfront mansion at 1633 North View Drive on the Sunset Islands for $15.5 million, property records show. In October, Marc Puleo, the founder and former CEO of 1-800 PetMeds, sold an estate at 1771 North View Drive on Sunset Island I to former Formula One driver Eddie Irvine for $13 million.
And New York developer Steve Witkoff bought a waterfront Miami Beach home at 2805 Lake Avenue in July for $10 million.