Resi roundup: Casino, oil, food and retail magnates buy, sell homes 

In the latest roundup of South Florida luxury residential sales, those with fortunes earned in casinos, oil, retail and food chains closed deals across the region.

Sales spanned Miami to Palm Beach, and ranged in price from $6.5 million to $14.8 million. 

Miami

In Miami’s Bay Point neighborhood, casino mogul Claudio Fischer sold a waterfront teardown for $9.1 million. Records show Fischer’s entity, named for the property’s address at 4225 Lake Road, sold to Impossible Works, a Florida entity managed by Stefano Loia.

Julianna Castro of Compass had the listing, and Agata Munoz of Miami Views Realty brought the buyer. 

Fischer is the co-founder of Santiago, Chile-based Sun Dreams, the largest casino resort operator in Latin America. 

Fischer bought the 0.4-acre Lake Road property for $4.2 million in 2018, records show. The existing 2,300-square-foot home was built in 1952 with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, according to property records. The land comes with approved plans for a house designed by Cesar Molina of Miami-based CMA Design Studio, a spokesperson for Compass confirmed. 

Fischer sold another waterfront teardown in Miami’s Bay Point neighborhood for $9 million in April.

Also in Miami, Michael Kasbar, CEO of World Kinect Corporation, sold a unit at Grove at Grand Bay to food entrepreneur Ron Shaich in an off-market deal. Records show Kasbar sold unit 1401S at 2675 South Bayshore Drive to Shaich’s trust for $12.6 million. Shaich financed the purchase with a $5.4 million loan from Bank of America. 

Shaich is the co-founder of Panera Bread and Au Bon Pain, and board chair and investor in Cava, Tatte Bakery & Cafe, and Life Alive, LinkedIn shows. 

World Kinect Corporation, formerly called World Fuel Services, is an oil company based in Miami and is among the largest Fortune 500 Companies in the world. Kasbar co-founded it in 1984. 

He and his wife, Mary Kasbar, bought the Grove at Grand Bay condo in 2016 for $5 million, records show. Completed that year, the 4,800-square-foot unit has six bedrooms and six bathrooms, according to property records. 

Miami Beach

In Miami Beach, Bernard Heffernan, scion of an Irish retail giant, sold his non-waterfront Venetian Islands home for $6.5 million. Records show Bernard and Carolina Heffernan sold 620 East Dilido Drive to Adam and Kathleen Solomon. 

Sean Murray and David Pulley of Douglas Elliman had the listing, and Judy Zeder of the Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker Realty brought the buyers. 

Bernard Heffernan’s mother is Margaret Heffernan, the former CEO of Dunnes Stores, one of Ireland’s largest retail chains. The Heffernans are considered one of Ireland’s wealthiest families. 

The couple bought the Dilido Drive home for $5.3 million in 2021, records show. Built in 1940 on 0.3 acres, the 5,500-square-foot home has six bedrooms and five bathrooms, property records show. The house includes a pool.

They listed it for $9.6 million in 2022, dropping the price several times before reaching the final $6.9 million listing price in November, Redfin shows.

Palm Beach

In Palm Beach, oil heirs sold their late mother’s Breakers condo for $14.8 million in an off-market deal. Records show Kenneth Endelson and Kathi Belfer Cypres sold unit C19 at 2 North Breakers Row to PBP Trust, with local attorney Maura Ziska signing on behalf of the buyer. The true buyer is unknown.

The pair’s mother, Diane Belfer, was the wife of Belco Petroleum founder Arthur Belfer. After a series of mergers, Belco became Enron Corporation in 1985. It collapsed following the infamous accounting scandal in 2001. Before the fall, the Belfer family’s ownership interest in Enron was worth an estimated $2 billion, according to the New York Times. 

Kenneth Endelson is also the chairman of West Palm Beach-based developer Kenco Communities.  

The Belfers bought the condo for $1.9 million in 1987, the year after the condominium was finished. There is no information regarding the floor plan or size of the unit in property records.

Elsewhere on the island, Donna Whitaker, co-founder and managing partner of Virginia Beach, Virginia-based Venture Realty Group closed two different deals. She sold a house for $10.2 million, and bought a vacant non-waterfront property for $10.3 million. 

Records show Whitaker’s Ocean Front Avenue 2 LLC sold the house at 310 Plantation Road to John J. Burns III. 

Suzanne Frisbie of Corcoran represented both sides of the deal.

Whitaker bought the home for $4.9 million in 2020, records show. Built on a quarter acre in 1950, the 4,200-square-foot house has five bedrooms, three bathrooms and one half-bathroom, property records show. The home also has a pool.

Whitaker listed it for $10.6 million in June, Redfin shows. 

Her LLC bought the 0.4-acre site at 620 North Lake Way from Cobey Rapaport and her ex-husband Robert Lazarowitz for $10.3 million, records show.

Christian Angle of Christian Angle Real Estate had the listing, and Frisbie represented the buyer. 

Rapaport and Lazarowitz bought the property for $6.8 million in 2021, records show. They listed it for $16.9 million in 2022, according to Redfin. Rapaport sold a waterfront Palm Beach mansion in 2021 for $31 million.