Home of the Week: Inside a Luxe $45 Million Florida Penthouse Perched 600 Feet Above the Atlantic
Acqualina Resort and Residences is the kind of place families visit once and quickly find themselves returning to year after year. Set on a prime Atlantic-front plot in Sunny Isles, Fla.—30 minutes north of Miami—the property is kid-friendly, amenity-rich and safe. Which is why so many Acqualina vacationers have chosen to purchase accommodations there: first in the resort itself (that has long had units for sale); then in the condo-only Residences at The Mansions; and now at the newly completed Estates at Acqualina, which has finally opened its doors.
Featuring the only lobby in the US designed by the late Karl Lagerfeld, the Estates takes Acqualina’s luxe white-glove service and raises it to elegant new levels; you can enjoy this meticulous care at the property’s decked-out 45,000-square-foot amenities pavilion, including a spa and fitness center. While almost all units in the Estates’ South Tower—which is now open while construction at the North Tower wraps up—are sold, a few choice residences remain on offer.
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Among the superb options is Casa di Oceana, a literal “villa in the sky” spread across the South Tower’s 48th and 49th floors. Rambling over 9,000 square feet—with an additional 4,250 square feet of outdoor space—the penthouse is priced at a cool $45 million and literally sits at the project’s pinnacle. “The home is completely private and set some 600 feet off the ground directly facing the Atlantic Ocean,” explains Michael Goldstein, the president of the Estates At Acqualina and Acqualina Realty. “You access the home via an entirely private elevator, so you never even have to see anyone else if you don’t want to. It’s a private home experience with all the perks of a condo.”
Along with six bathrooms plus eight and a half baths, the duplex includes everything from a private cabana with parking for two cars, a separate six-car garage, 16-foot high ceilings and a 45-foot outdoor pool. “The goal was to bring a bit of elegance and timeless modern design to Miami, a place that traditionally is a bit more Versace in its aesthetic,” designer Shelly Osadon, who’s responsible for the interiors at Casa di Oceana, says. Best of all, the home has complete access to the Estate’s extensive resort amenities—including its comprehensive kids club and teens room.
Casa di Oceana’s lower level is envisioned more as a gathering area, featuring the kitchen, the great room, a family room, a large foyer and a dining area. The first floor is surrounded by deep terraces and includes that expansive pool and a separate spa (as well as a pair of bedrooms with en suite baths). Upstairs, you’ll find four additional bedrooms, including the sprawling primary suite, along with an exercise room and a grand foyer, all encircled by—you guessed it—even more terraces. “There isn’t a property in all of Miami that can match the level of finishes, amenities, service and location,” according to seller Roger Monteforte. “It simply doesn’t exist anywhere else.”
The Estates is a $1.8 billion project set on a prime six-acre site lined with 1.5 acres of beachfront. Although it broke ground before the pandemic began, the property benefited massively from the shifting housing demands of deep-pocketed buyers looking for homes large enough to handle entire families, Goldstein says. With its large floor-plans—each unit offers at least four bedrooms—the Estates were perfectly positioned to accommodate the demand for expansive accommodations. “When Covid hit, people needed to completely upend their lives, and we really were able to respond to that,” he explains.
Casa di Oceana is one of a handful of private villa-like homes in the South Tower, including another show-stopper: a 12,000-square-foot lair located in the Tower’s lower levels now that’s on the market for $85 million. Dubbed Casa di Coba after its current owners, haircare moguls Joshua and Jenni Coba, the home has its own elevator, entryway and garage. Yet another example, says Goldstein, of how “buyers today want to live in a private home while living like they’re in a full-service condo.”
If Casa di Coba sells for the asking price, it will set a new Miami-area condo record, beating out the record $60 million sales price billionaire Ken Griffin paid for a 12,500-square-foot spread at Faena House in 2015. While that property may be closer to Miami proper, Acqualina features far more services and amenities, including a massive outpost of upscale Greek eatery Avra, which opened in the amenities villas this week.
See below for more photos of Casa di Oceana at the Estates at Acqualina:
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