Attorney buys waterfront Miami Shores teardown for record $9M

A New York attorney paid a record $8.7 million for a waterfront teardown in Miami Shores.

Records show George J. Sampas and Anna Kuzmik Sampas bought the house at 9767 Northeast 13th Avenue from Cooper Florida Estates LLC. The Florida entity is managed by local CPA Barry Brant. 

Jeffrey Fields of One Sotheby’s International Realty had the listing. Chad Carroll and Brett Eaglstein of Compass brought the buyers.

George Sampas is a partner with the New York City-based law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the top law firms in the country, which reported $1.8 billion in gross revenue in 2021. Sampas leads aviation and North American energy and natural resources practices for the firm, according to its website. 

The couple also owns a South Pointe Towers condo they bought in 2021 for $3.2 million, records show. 

The waterfront Miami Shores home last sold for $7.4 million in 2021, according to records. The 0.6-acre property includes a 5,000-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bathroom house built in 1951, with 187 feet of bay frontage, according to records and the listing. The listing advertised the home as a “development opportunity.” The home also includes a dock and a pool, the listing shows.

Fields confirmed that the buyers plan to temporarily renovate the home before tearing it down.  

“They may split [the lot] and build one [home] and sell off the other lot,” Fields said.

The house first listed for $11 million in October. Despite selling for less than the asking price, the sale marks a price record for Miami Shores. 

Miami Shores’ median price for single-family homes was $1.1 million as of last month, which marks a price growth of 27.6 percent, year-over-year, according to Redfin.

Fields said luxury buyers are looking outside of Miami-Dade County’s usual luxury markets to get more for their money, since prices have climbed to record heights over the past few years. 

“To get this much bay frontage anywhere else in Miami… it would be a much bigger number,” he said. “People are looking farther out to find some relative value compared to the rest of the market.”

While this sale marks a significant departure from the median sale price in Miami Shores, Fields pointed to Related Group COO Matt Allen’s investment in the area as a sign of the village’s potential.

Allen bought a half-acre home at 1420 Northeast 101 Street for $3.9 million in 2016, records show. The Related Group executive commissioned architect Cesar Molina of Miami-based CMA Design Studio to build a custom home, according to Fields. He completed the 11,300-square-foot waterfront mansion in 2021, records show. 

Said Fields: “It says a lot that someone at Related Group would plant the flag in Miami Shores.”