Sabal Development sells waterfront Hibiscus Island spec home for $16M

Pascal Nicolai of Sabal Development sold a waterfront spec home on Miami Beach’s Hibiscus Island for $16 million, following a tumultuous construction phase.

Nicolai sold the 5,243-square-foot house at 79 Hibiscus Drive to Alejandro Montealegre, Nicolai confirmed. Montealegre is a hedge fund manager at Millville Opportunities Management, based in New York.

Lourdes Alatriste of Douglas Elliman represented Nicolai. Marko Gojanovic and Reid Heidenry of One Sotheby’s International Realty represented the buyer.

Nicolai bought the 0.2 acre property for $5.3 million in 2020, as manager of the buying entity 79 Hibiscus LLC, records show. Sabal Development’s construction arm, Sabal Luxury Builder, completed the five-bedroom, five-bathroom home this summer with architectural and interior design by Miami-based TOGU design.

Nicolai said that between a construction labor shortage, lengthy approval processes and inflation, building the home was an unpredictable ride.

“It was crazy,” he said, describing price hikes by contractors and irregular appearances by overbooked workers. “When you sell a house on speculation, you are losing money every day.”

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Nicolai sold another TOGU-designed waterfront spec home on a quarter-acre site at 165 North Hibiscus Drive, property records show. The buying entity, Delaware-registered Hibiscus Investments LLC, paid $15 million for the 5,508-square-foot, five-bedroom, six-bathroom home in February.

In March, Sabal sold a 10-acre development site that was approved for 34 townhomes and 20 single-family homes near Pinecrest to Lennar for $24.5 million.

Hibiscus Island is among Miami Beach’s hot luxury markets where buyers have been laser-focused on waterfront properties.

Recently, Miami real estate investor Laurent Groll and his partners flipped a waterfront lot on the island for $14 million in just a month, turning a $3 million profit on the deal.

In June. Artefacto owner Paulo Bacchi also recently sold a waterfront lot on the island for $11 million, after buying it for $5.4 million in 2018.

A shipping tycoon bought a waterfront teardown on Hibiscus Island for $17.5 million in May. It had been flipped twice, and in 15 months the property went from $11.8 million to nearing $18 million.