Sunset Islands purchase sets record for non-waterfront home sales in Miami Beach

Entity tied to corporate raider Carl Icahn completed the house in 2020

Robert Coward and 2535 Shelter Avenue (Jose Lopez of Immersive Media Solutions, USAP)
Robert Coward and 2535 Shelter Avenue (Jose Lopez of Immersive Media Solutions, USAP)

A non-waterfront home in Miami Beach traded for $12.5 million, setting a record for dry sales in the coastal city.

The Sunset Islands home at 2535 Shelter Avenue sold for more than double its previous purchase price in 2020, as demand for non-waterfront houses continues to grow.

Property records show Robert J. Coward and Mark Bradley Jones, who are married, sold the four-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom home to a land trust. The 5,086-square-foot house was completed in 2020, the same year Coward and Bradley purchased it for $4.9 million from a company tied to activist investor and corporate raider Carl Icahn. It’s on Sunset Island II.

Coward is CEO of US Anesthesia Partners, a Dallas-based physician-owned organization, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Dora Puig of Luxe Living Realty represented the buyer and seller in this latest deal. The house sold for the full asking price of $12.5 million. It hit the market in February, according to Realtor.com. Puig declined to comment.

2535 Shelter Avenue (Jose Lopez of Immersive Media Solutions)

2535 Shelter Avenue (Jose Lopez of Immersive Media Solutions)

The two-story home was designed by Strang Design and includes a pool and tropical landscaping. It sits on a 12,000-square-foot lot.

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The closing beats a handful of records all set within the last two years for non-waterfront Miami Beach homes. The previous record dry lot trade was Scott Srebnick and Jessica Goldman Srebnick’s $9.7 million sale of the house at 6686 Roxbury Lane on La Gorce Island last year.

2535 Shelter Avenue (Jose Lopez of Immersive Media Solutions)

More buyers are making offers on non-waterfront homes in Miami Beach and other parts of South Florida, as waterfront properties ask – and fetch – massive prices.

On North Bay Road in Miami Beach, Anatomy Fitness owner Chris Paciello sold a house on the dry side of the street for $9 million, a record for that street, in March to commercial real estate investor and developer Mark Blieden and his wife, Susan.

In December, a waterfront Miami Beach mansion on Star Island that will likely be torn down traded for $75 million, marking a record for single-family home sales in Miami-Dade County.

Demand for luxury homes has skyrocketed throughout the pandemic, though single-family home sales have started to slow in parts of the tri-county region due to limited inventory and lofty asking prices.

On the barrier islands of Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Fisher Island, Golden Beach, Indian Creek, Key Biscayne, North Bay Village, Sunny Isles Beach and Surfside, single-family home sales fell 31 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, to 161 closings, according to the Elliman reports. The median price rose 19 percent to $2.7 million, and inventory fell 33 percent to 232 listings.