Owner of Las Vegas Cuban restaurants finds buyer for $24M North Miami mansion

A handful of prominent homeowners in Miami-Dade County secured buyers for their waterfront properties last week, as activity in the high-end residential market picked back up. 

Vilma Vilarino Knips, owner of the popular chain of restaurants called Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine and La Casita, and her husband Jimmy Knips, CEO of The Christmas Palace, entered into contract to sell their new waterfront mansion in North Miami, according to Eklund-Gomes’ luxe signed contracts report. 

Between July 8 and July 14, buyers inked deals for 10 residential properties priced at $4 million and up on the Multiple Listing Service. 

Knips and her husband’s home at 11420 North Bayshore Drive is listed for $23.9 million. Joel Lusky and Alexander Knips of The Brokerage South Florida are co-listing the 0.4-acre property. The 12,600-square-foot mansion, designed by Portuondo Perotti, has six bedrooms and seven and a half bedrooms. It was completed this year and has about 100 feet of waterfront with a private dock, infinity edge pool and outdoor kitchen. 

The Knipses paid $2.7 million for the lot in 2019, property records show. Vilarino Knips owns more than a dozen restaurants, including Ku-Va Restaurant and Vila’s Cuban & Mexican Restaurant, according to her LinkedIn and Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine’s website. 

The most expensive condo to enter into contract last week was a unit at Four Seasons Residences at the Surf Club in Surfside, according to the report. Unit 709 in the south tower at 9001 Collins Avenue is asking $14.5 million with Douglas Elliman’s Dustin Nero. 

Property records show Jay Schreibman, an area chairman at the insurance firm Gallagher, owns the 2,600-square-foot, two-bedroom and three-and-a-half-bathroom condo. He paid $6.5 million for the unit in 2021, which means he likely stands to make a big profit when the sale closes. 

Despite a slow start to July, pending sales activity improved last week. Buyers signed contracts for homes asking a combined $113.3 million. Six on-market single-family homes went into contract last week, asking a total of $73.7 million. They averaged 91 days on the market, and an average price of $12.3 million.

Sellers secured buyers for four condos asking a combined $40 million. The condos spent about 49 days on the market on average before entering into contract. The units have an average price of nearly $10 million, or about $3,100 per square foot. 

The previous week, buyers signed contracts for two single-family homes and one condo in Miami-Dade County, asking a combined $30 million.

Eklund-Gomes’ report, based on pending deals recorded on the Multiple Listing Service, is modeled after the Olshan report that tracks new deals in Manhattan. Last week in New York, buyers signed contracts for 20 homes, according to the latest Olshan report. Their combined asking price was $176 million, and the typical home spent 824 days on the market.