Apollo Global Management LLC founder Leon Black is seeking a buyer for his condominium at Miami Beach’s Faena House, joining Ken Griffin and former Saks Inc. Chief Executive Officer Stephen Sadove in selling units at the just-opened tower that’s been a magnet for billionaires.
The 4,730-square-foot (439-square-meter) condo with five bedrooms, Venetian terrazzo flooring, a wrap-around terrace and ocean views is on the market for $18.5 million, said its listing agent, Oren Alexander, of Douglas Elliman’s Alexander Team. The company that runs Black’s family office bought the unit for $16.5 million in September, according to documents from the Miami-Dade County property appraiser’s office. A spokesman for Apollo, Charles Zehren, said Black declined to comment.
Faena House, which has attracted buyers including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, was completed in October and commands some of the highest prices in the Miami area. The local luxury condo market is now cooling after a flood of new supply and a retreat of foreign buyers.
Sadove recently lowered the asking price for his Faena House condo almost 11 percent to $12.95 million. Griffin’s penthouse and his unit below can be purchased for a combined $73 million, $13 million more than he paid.
Alexander said that the tower — with its 24-hour doorman, spa with men’s and women’s saunas, children’s playroom, and fitness center with ocean views — is largely protected from the falloff in demand in the Miami area because it’s so expensive and appeals primarily to domestic buyers who aren’t suffering from the exchange-rate effects of the strong U.S. dollar.
‘End Users’
It “caters mostly to affluent Northeasterners,” he said in a phone interview from the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California. “These people still have a lot of money. They’re not buying assets as investment chips. They’re buying as end users.”
The building sold out more than a year ago and its developer has started work on the 41-unit Faena Versailles, said Erik Schneider, director of sales.
While the Miami area’s most expensive condos haven’t been as affected by declining sales, no building is immune to the slowdown, said Kevin Maloney, principal and founder of Property Markets Group, which builds condos in New York and Miami.
No Overpayment
“Everyone is reaching for the sky in terms of pricing — we’re all guilty of that,” he said. “Billionaires don’t like to throw money away either, and overpay.”
Sadove lowered the price for his Faena House condo to $12.95 million from $14.5 million because of “market conditions,” according to the unit’s listing agent, Pablo Alfaro, of Douglas Elliman.
For potential buyers of Griffin’s Faena House penthouse, which has a 71-foot infinity-edge pool and listed for $55 million, the cooling market may be of less importance. Shoppers are part of a fairly small and exclusive group, said real estate agent Mick Duchon.
“It’s definitely slowed down, although there is some interest because it’s such a unique asset,” said Duchon, who has the listing with fellow Douglas Elliman agent Eloy Carmenate. “It’s an exclusive building at a high price point, so interest is targeted.”
