Why Miami Is Becoming the ‘Russian Riviera’
November 21st, 2012Where’s Crockett and Tubbs?
Via: CNBC:
On a recent afternoon, Miami real-estate agent Jill Eber is taking a Russian millionaire on a mansion-shopping trip.
“This is the Versace Room,” Eber says, walking into a vast living room of blue velvet sofas and gold French Imperial lamps. “It really makes a statement.”
The mansion, “Castello del Sole,” sits on an exclusive island on Miami Beach and has eight bedrooms, nine baths and a three-story foyer with fresco ceilings. The grounds include two yacht docks, a tennis court, guest villas, a five-car garage and a lagoon-style pool with over 100,000 gallons of water.
The asking price: $37 million.
“I like it,” says the Russian buyer, sliding on her Gucci shades as she admires the water views. “It’s a maybe.”
Russian millionaires are an increasingly common sight inside the giant homes for sale along the Miami coast. While Latin Americans – especially Brazilians – are fueling much of the recovery in the broader Miami real-estate market, it’s the rich Russians who are dominating the market for mega-mansions. They’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars on waterfront palaces and launching the next big land grab by the world’s super-rich.
