Zach Vella Pays off Ex-Investor, Plans Miami Beach Home

Developer Zachary Vella paid off an investor and is now moving forward with plans to build a waterfront mansion on the Venetian Islands, The Real Deal has learned.

Vella was in litigation brought by the former investor, Charles Holzer’s Worth Capital Holdings 70 LLC, and paid him off via a recorded sale of the property at 228 and 302 West Dilido Drive in Miami Beach, according to Vella and public records. The deed was recorded for $17.8 million.

A Delaware entity managed by attorney John L. Penson of Miami Beach-based Asset Recovery Services is listed as the buyer. Vella said he is the true buyer.

“We paid [Holzer] back and cleaned up the structure,” Vella said. “We’re developing the project and moving forward.”

A Vella-led LLC paid $15.2 million for the property, where he planned to build his family home, in 2020. It hit the market in February for $28 million and the price was most recently reduced to $25 million. Vella is founder of the West Hollywood, California and New York-based Vella Group.

He said the property hit the market because he had not yet decided what he would do with the land. It’s approved for an 11,000-square-foot mansion designed by Saota, according to the listing. The Venetian Islands double lot was on the market with Dora Puig of Luxe Living Realty.

The site includes 120 feet of water frontage with views of downtown Miami.

Vella said he’s pulling permits for the property now and will begin work on completing the seawall this week.

In early 2024, Holzer’s company secured a judgment against Vella and other entities, including the entity that sold the Venetian Islands property, New York court filings show. The litigation centered around a $2.5 million loan Holzer provided to them in 2023.

In 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Holzer and another person with insider trading. The SEC alleged that they traded options in Dun & Bradstreet Corp. based on information, ahead of an announcement that it agreed to be acquired. The SEC also alleged that they tipped off two other traders before the announcement. In 2023, Holzer was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $1.2 million and was barred from violating the antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act.

Vella is a partner in Bob Zangrillo’s Magic City Innovation District, a large-scale, phased project planned in Miami’s Little Haiti. Zangrillo lives on the Venetian Islands’ Di Lido Island.

Before Vella, the Venetian Islands property’s previous owner was Lionel Masson, the founder and former CEO of Pharmacies Lafayette, a pharmacy chain in France.

This summer, tech moguls Tom and Patricia Kennedy sold their waterfront San Marino Drive mansion for $46 million, making it the most expensive home ever sold in the Venetian Islands.