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Less than six months after a penthouse at the Setai sold for $21.5 and set a new record for the highest price ever paid in Miami-Dade for an apartment, that record has been smashed. A penthouse in South Beach’s exclusive Continuum towers has been sold for $25 million according to the New York Times setting a new record. The previous owner of the apartment had bought it for just $9.9 million three years ago.
The seller was Alex Birkenstock. Yes he’s a member of the company that control hippies’ favorite sandal brand, but he withdrew from the running of the footwear company in 2008 before buying the penthouse. The buyer has only been identified as an Italian who controls an investment company.
The penthouse actually was not on the market, and the buyer was looking at another unit in the same tower but wanted higher ceilings. So he approached Birkenstock, and the two struck a deal.
So what does $25 million get you?
“It is a glass box in the sky,” Birkenstock’s broker told the Times.
The 7,374-square-foot pad boasts five bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms. It has unobstructed views of the Atlantic Ocean, Biscayne Bay, and both the cities of Miami and Miami Beach. Most rooms have 13-foot ceilings, but the dining room boasts 26-foot ceilings.
According to the Miami Beach Luxury Real Estate blog, Birkenstock himself bought the place from Howard and Lilly Steinberg in 2009 for $9.9 million. They had in turn bought it for $7 million in 2003. Though, when they originally listed the place for sale the asking price was, yes, $25 million. They continually cut the asking price down, but if they had just waited a few years they would have apparently got that extra $15 million.
The apartment has also been used to film scenes in movies and music videos, including this perfume commercial for Mary J. Blige.
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