PHOTOS: On the scene at the Armani/Casa demolition party

Miami’s real estate elite watched as Gil Dezer mounted a bulldozer, fired it up and set to work. His target: the last remaining structure on the future site of Residences by Armani/Casa, an upcoming luxury condo development in Sunny Isles Beach.

A barrage of fireworks exploded overhead as the bulldozer’s metal teeth pulled apart the building piece by piece. By the time Dezer was done, the only thing left was a pile of twisted metal and concrete.

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The destruction was followed by a party at the Dezer Platinum Information Center, where more than 400 guests celebrated the project’s move to the contract-conversion phase.

Residences by Armani/Casa is a joint venture between the Armani Group, Dezer Development and Related Group. It is also the Armani/Casa Interior Design Studio’s first entrance into the United States real estate market.

As of February, the project had sold more than 84 percent of its planned 308 units. The 60-story waterfront tower, at 18975 Collins Avenue, is expected to be finished in early 2018. — Sean Stewart-Muniz