Waterfront Fort Lauderdale spec estate trades for record $32.5M

UPDATED, Aug. 29, 3 p.m.: The retired founder of Janus International Group, a billion-dollar self-storage company, set a record for Broward County with his $32.5 million purchase of a waterfront Fort Lauderdale compound.

Records show David and Vicki Curtis bought the spec mansion at 1712-1718 Southeast 12th Court from Brent Braun. Jim Morlock of Fidelity Real Estate represented Braun. Lourdes Maestres and Nicole Alvarez of Compass brought the buyer, according to Realtor.com.

Braun bought the 0.5-acre property as a vacant lot for $6.5 million in 2017, marking a land sale record for Broward County at the time. Braun is the son of Ralph Braun, known as the “Father of the Mobility Movement,” for his invention of the first wheelchair lift, and founder of mobility industry leader BraunAbility, based in Winamac, Indiana.

David Curtis founded Temple, Georgia-based Janus, a leading self-storage manufacturer and supplier known for its steel roll-up doors, in 2001. Clearlake Capital acquired the company in 2018, Forbes reported. Curtis retired as CEO in 2019, but stayed on as co-chairman of the board, according to a company announcement. Janus made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in June of last year, following a merger with Juniper Industrial Holdings, a New Jersey company, List Self Storage reported. It is currently valued at $1.5 billion.

According to the listing, the 13,060-square-foot, nine-bedroom, 11-and-a-half-bathroom property includes two pools and a garage to fit as many as 20 cars. Situated at the end of an island in Lauderdale Harbours, it has 345 feet of deep water dockage for a mega yacht. The estate also includes a guest house.

The property was originally listed in April 2020 for $32 million, and the price was bumped to $33 million last year.

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Waterfront Fort Lauderdale estate sells for Broward record of $28.5M

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Medical device honcho pays $14M for waterfront Fort Lauderdale spec house

In July, insurance executives Seth and Brad Cohen sold a Fort Lauderdale mansion for $28.5 million, marking a record at the time. The estate sits on 0.6-acres, and includes a pool, guest house, and 250 feet of deep water frontage.

The back-to-back county records signal a heated luxury market in Fort Lauderdale, where the previous $27.5 million price record had held steady since 2015.

Among recent sales in Fort Lauderdale, a restaurateur from California bought a waterfront mansion in Harbor Beach for $13 million last month. It had traded for $7.5 million a year earlier. In another Harbor Beach deal, a medical device boss paid $14 million for a waterfront estate in April.