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Developer Todd Glaser pays $24M for Don Francisco’s Indian Creek estate
Glaser and his partners plan to knock down existing home and build mansion
UPDATED, July 8, 1:25 p.m.: Longtime “Sábado Gigante” host Don Francisco sold his South Florida home for $23.8 million.
Spec home developer Todd Michael Glaser and his partners Jim Randall, Scott Robins and Jonathan Fryd purchased the 7,236-square-foot home at 37 Indian Creek Island Road, Glaser said.
They plan to demolish the three-bedroom waterfront house and build a mansion on the 1.2-acre property that could list for more than twice the purchase price.
Francisco, whose real name is Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld, hosted the variety show “Sábado Gigante” for 53 years ending in 2015. He returned to TV with his Telemundo show “Don Francisco Te Invita.”
Indian Creek, home to billionaire Carl Icahn, along with other big names like Julio Iglesias, is a gated and guarded island north of Miami Beach with its own police force. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, billionaire hedge funder Eddie Lampert and Hotels.com co-founder Bob Diener also own property on the island.
Don Francisco’s house was built in 1987 and expanded throughout the years.
Glaser and his partners tapped architect Kobi Karp to design a new mansion. It will have two pools and could hit the market for a price in the $50 million range. It’s expected to be completed in December, Glaser said.
Randall, of Randall Realty Group, is a 25 percent partner in the project, according to Glaser. He made the bulk of his fortune when he sold his aerospace rivet manufacturing company for $360 million in 2014.
Dina Goldentayer of Douglas Elliman represented Glaser and his partners in the off-market deal, and Danilo Tavares with The Chad Carroll Group at Compass represented the seller.
In March, financier Gary Siegler and his wife, Barbara, sold their Indian Creek Island home for $27.9 million to a buyer linked to Fred Ebrahemi, a partner and COO of the investment firm Clearlake Capital Group.
Last year, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and supermodel Gisele Bündchen paid $17 million for the lot at 26 Indian Creek Island Road, next to developer Jeffrey Soffer’s house.