Heading cross-country: California tile heir drops $17M on Coral Gables spec mansion 

Another Californian is moving to Florida. Laguna Beach flooring heir Thomas Peck dropped $17 million on a 1.1-acre spec estate in Coral Gables.

Records show Peck and Jill Barnes bought the mansion at 10840 Old Cutler Road from ADF Reef LLC, a Florida entity managed by Alberto Fernandez and Giorgio Balli of the Balli Group. 

Audrey Ross and Stefano Balli of Compass had the listing. 

Peck’s father, Thomas Peck Sr., founded Huntington Beach-based flooring and tilemaker Custom Building Products in 1964. The younger Peck was president of the business from 1986 till 2013. The firm was sold to the private equity firm Kelso & Co for $600 million in 2005, according to published reports. 

Peck is no stranger to luxury real estate. Peck and his ex-wife, Kathryn Peck, listed their Laguna Beach mansion for $28.8 million in 2018, according to the Orange County Business Journal. It sold for $19.8 million in 2021, Realtor.com shows. 

Coral Gables-based spec developer the Balli Group bought the 1.1-acre Old Cutler Road site for $1.8 million in 2020, records show. The firm completed the 8,200-square-foot, seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom mansion last year, according to property records. 

The developers listed the estate for $22 million in 2022, the listing shows. 

Peck and Barnes’ purchase follows a trend of cross-country migration from California to Florida. In addition to Northeasterners relocating to the Sunshine State, agents say Californians are one of the most significant segments of buyers in South Florida. 

Other recent Coral Gables deals include a San Francisco-based lending firm CEO’s $27.5 million sale of a mansion earlier this month. Magnetics heir Geert-Jan Bakker bought a waterfront home for $23.5 million in June, after selling his Indian Creek estate for $64.5 million. Also last month, Paul Kaplan, the U.S. CEO of global property management firm Odevo, bought a $14.8 million waterfront house.