Bal Harbour Club sold to Argentine for $220 million

The sale of the Bal Harbour Club is one of the last prime pieces of oceanfront property. The club is expected to be demolished to make room for a luxury condominium.

An Argentine developer paid $220 million for the Bal Harbour Club, with plans to build a luxury high-rise condominium on the prime, under-utilized oceanfront site.

Consultatio, the development and financial firm owned by Argentine businessman Eduardo Constantini, closed Monday on the 5.53-acre property at 10201 Collins Ave. This is the firm’s second major acquisition in Miami. Consultatio this year began construction of another luxury condominium project on the site of the former Sonesta Key Biscayne, which it purchased in 2009.

“We bought two of the best oceanfront properties in Miami,” said Marcos Corti Maderna, chief executive of Consultatio North America. “We paid prime prices for prime product. We believe in the market and the product that we can develop there.”

This is believed to be the largest land sale of the year and comparable to the $236 million the Genting Group paid in May 2011 for the 13.9-acre bayfront site that is the home of The Miami Herald.

Bal Harbour Club owner Joseph Imbesi had been shopping the site for several years.

Consultatio’s preliminary plans for the Bal Harbour site call for knocking down the club and building about 250 condominiums priced at over $2 million each, Maderna said. The site would also include a small amount of commercial development, including an upscale restaurant.

The Bal Harbour site’s positioning would be similar to what Consultatio is doing in Key Biscayne with the construction of Oceana at Key Biscayne, a 154-unit project with units starting at $1.6 million and scheduled for completion in March 2014. About 75 percent of the units are currently reserved and moving toward contracts, he said.

Miami is the first U.S. expansion for the Argentine firm. While the focus will be on these two projects, the firm wouldn’t rule out future acquisitions in Miami over the long-term.

“Consultatio is here to stay and to get a good reputation,” Maderna said. “We’re going to keep moving forward.”

courtesy: ELAINE WALKER; MIAMI HERALD