Tampa Bay Rays co-owner buys waterfront Miami Beach spec mansion for $14M

Tampa Bay Rays co-owner Randy Frankel paid $14.4 million for a waterfront Miami Beach spec mansion, The Real Deal has learned.

Todd Michael Glaser and Rony Seikaly developed the 8,500-square-foot house at 1635 West 22nd Street on Sunset Island IV. Nelson Gonzalez of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty brokered the sale.

The spec mansion

Frankel, a financier, and his wife, Barbara purchased the 20,000-square-foot property. The Frankels, who live in New Jersey and own condos in South Florida, plan to change their residency to the Sunset Islands home, Gonzalez said.

The property hit the market in January for $17.5 million and was most recently asking nearly $16 million, according to the listing. Glaser said the Frankels paid an additional $375,000 commission and $400,000 for furnishings.

Frankel was previously a managing director at Goldman Sachs, but left Wall Street after 9/11. In 2004, he and his Wall Street partners acquired the Tampa Bay Rays. The following year, he purchased Windham Mountain Ski Resort and Hotel in Windham, New York, according to a bio on the website of his alma mater, Hofstra University.

Frankel, who has been involved in real estate and opened restaurants in New Jersey and New York, also owns wineries, including Shinn Estate Vineyards in Mattituck, New York, and Croteaux Vineyards in Southold, New York, with partners, according to published reports.

The spec mansion

The Frankel’s new, four-bedroom, four-and-a-half bath home has a guest house with three bedrooms and three baths, and a cabana with one bath, Gonzalez said. It was designed by Domo Architecture + Design.

In a twist on financing spec home development, Glaser and DJ and former Miami Heat player Seikaly paid $7 million for the property last year, after leasing it from real estate developer Ron Simkins while building the mansion.

Glaser has been very active in spec home development, most recently in Palm Beach.

The spec mansion

In July, he and his partners Philip Levine, Scott Robins and Jonathan Fryd sold a spec home at 111 Atlantic Avenue in Palm Beach for $10.7 million. In February, he and his partners sold the adjacent spec home at 113 Atlantic Avenue for $9.4 million to a scion of the family that founded Cumberland Farms. The partners also developed two spec villas with a courtyard at 237 Brazilian Avenue in Palm Beach, which recently hit the market for $7.9 million each.

In June, Glaser and his wife, Kim, paid $17 million for the landmarked Palm Beach estate at 127 Dunbar Road, with plans to restore it and live there.