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La Gorce Island compound in Miami Beach hits market for $170M
Foundation of late activist investor and doctor M. Lee Pearce is selling the compound
A waterfront compound in Miami Beach hit the market for $170 million, an ask that would set a record for Florida home sales if sold at or near that price.
The trust of the late Dr. M. Lee Pearce owns the estate at 18 La Gorce Circle on La Gorce Island. It includes three homes and a park at 16, 18, 22 and 24 La Gorce Circle.
Pearce, who died in 2017, was a controversial activist investor who was known locally for his successful Southeast Bank proxy battle, as well as other attempted bank takeovers, from which he reportedly profited nearly $30 million. He was also a medical doctor who owned hospitals, banks and real estate.
The proceeds from the La Gorce Island sale will eventually go to his nonprofit foundation, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the listing.
The estate is the most expensive residential property on the market in all of South Florida, though at least one other property, the former Ziff estate in Manalapan, once asked nearly $200 million. In January, Miami businesswoman and philanthropist Adrienne Arsht listed her waterfront Miami mansion for $150 million.
The nearly 3-acre La Gorce Island property has about 600 feet of water frontage. It neighbors a mansion owned by the estate of the late businessman George Sherman. Other neighbors on the island include Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits CEO Wayne Chaplin and developer Brett Palos. Rapper Lil Wayne sold his waterfront La Gorce mansion in 2017 for $10 million.
The Pearce-owned property at 16 La Gorce Circle has a two-story home with five bedrooms, seven bathrooms and three half-bathrooms, according to a press release. The house at 18 La Gorce Circle has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, one half-bathroom and a guest house. And the two-story house at 22 La Gorce Circle includes five bedrooms, seven bathrooms and five half-bathrooms. Each house has its own dock.
The park, on the western side of the property, has manicured gardens, a bayfront marble gazebo, coral stone walkways and a dock.
Jill Eber and Jill Hertzberg of The Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker are representing the seller.
Pearce paid more than $3.1 million to assemble the properties in the 1980s.
La Gorce Island is among the neighborhoods in Miami Beach that are seeing a jump in sales. The high-end market of waterfront single-family homes experienced a huge boom in activity, which has slowed down more recently due to limited inventory and sky-high prices.
Last year marked the record for single-family home sales in South Florida with private equity billionaire Scott Shleifer’s $122.7 million purchase of an oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach.