Owners of custom app startup Zudy buy waterfront Venetian Islands property

Half-acre property includes partially built shell of planned mansion

Tom and Patricia Kennedy with 55 East San Marino Drive (Zudy, Studio Arthur Casas, iStock)
Tom and Patricia Kennedy with 55 East San Marino Drive (Zudy, Studio Arthur Casas, iStock)

A tech power couple paid $21.5 million for a waterfront property on the Venetian Islands in Miami Beach.

Benco Brasil, a British Virgin Islands company managed by Dario Leonardo Conca and Paula Shayene Cruz De Araujo, sold the partially built mansion at 55 East San Marino Drive to an entity managed by Tom and Patricia Kennedy, owners of the Miami Beach-based software firm, Zudy, records show.

Tom is chief technology officer and Patricia, known as Trish, is chief operating officer, according to Zudy’s website. Zudy is a custom app builder.

Benco Brasil paid $5.3 million for the Venetian Islands property in 2016. Three years later, the company hired Bosch Construction to build a new single-family home on the lot, records show.

The half-acre property is approved for a 10,500-square-foot, six bedroom, seven bathroom and one-half bathroom home, according to the listing. The shell is partially completed and the lot has 160 feet of water frontage.

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Brazilian architect Arthur Casas designed the plans for the new home.

Dora Puig of Luxe Living Realty was the listing agent. Eric Grabois with Envision Realty Group represented the buyer, according to Redfin. The property hit the market a year ago in April for $23 million.

Tech buyers have flocked to the Venetian Islands, where waterfront and non-waterfront home sales have boomed throughout the pandemic. Overall, residential sales and prices in South Florida have been on the rise.

High-profile sales on the Venetians include PayPal co-founder and billionaire Peter Thiel’s $18 million purchase of two waterfront adjacent mansions in 2020, and Goody co-founder’s $15.1 million purchase of a waterfront home late last year.

In December, a private equity investor and software titan flipped his waterfront home for $19 million, which marked a 20 percent increase over its previous sale price the year before. In November, Sahm Adrangi, founder and chief investment officer of Miami Beach-based Kerrisdale Capital, paid $15 million for a home on San Marino Island, which is part of the man-made island chain.