Goya Foods scion sells waterfront Gables Estates lot for $19M

The scion of a family known for its Latin food fortune sold a waterfront lot in Coral Gables’ Gables Estates for $18.5 million. 

Records show Francisco R. Unanue sold the 1-acre property at 1 Leucadendra Drive to Mocca Construction 1 Leucadendra LLC, a Florida entity managed by developer Alex Pirez.

Vincent Pinto of Related ISG Realty had the listing, and Pirez represented himself in the deal.

Unanue is a member of the Unanue family that founded and runs Goya Foods, the Secaucus, New Jersey-based food giant. In 2014, Forbes estimated the family’s net worth at $1.1 billion. In 2019 the firm’s board considered a $3 billion sale of the company, but backed out of the deal, according to published reports. 

Unanue bought the Leucadendra Drive property for $4.3 million in 2001, according to property records. It spans more than an acre and 400 feet of waterfront, according to the listing. He first listed it for $45 million in 2021, and dropped the asking price to $25 million in 2022, Zillow shows. 

Pirez heads the spec development firm Mocca Group. In January, he sold a spec mansion in Hammock Lakes for $21 million.

Gables Estates has been a hub of luxury real estate deals in recent months. Last month, the CEO of a lending firm and his beauty mogul wife sold their mansion in the neighborhood for $27.5 million. In June, magnetics heir Geert-Jan Bakker downsized to a waterfront Gables Estates mansion for $23.5 million after selling his Indian Creek Village estate for $64.5 million. Property management CEO Paul Kaplan bought a waterfront home in Gables Estates for $14.8 million that same month.