Todd Glaser buys and sells houses totaling $50M, amid South Florida luxury frenzy

Deals include $12M Sunset Islands sale and $18M sale in Palm Beach

Clockwise from top left: 1500 West 21st Street in Miami Beach, 259 Pendleton Avenue in Palm Beach, 1221 North Lake Way in Palm Beach, 215 Indian Road in Palm Beach and Todd Glaser (Google Maps)
Clockwise from top left: 1500 West 21st Street in Miami Beach, 259 Pendleton Avenue in Palm Beach, 1221 North Lake Way in Palm Beach, 215 Indian Road in Palm Beach and Todd Glaser (Google Maps, Todd Glaser)

UPDATED, April 23, 8:20 a.m.: Luxury spec homebuilder Todd Michael Glaser sold three South Florida high-end homes and picked up another for a combined $50 million.

The deals closed within about a week, Glaser told The Real Deal.

In Miami Beach, Glaser sold the six-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bathroom home at 1500 West 21st Street on the Sunset Islands to a finance executive from New York for $12 million. The waterfront 5,735-square-foot house sits on an 8,700-square-foot lot on Sunset Island IV. The sale has not been recorded, so the buyer’s identity is unknown.

Glaser was building the home for investor Andrew Mirmelli, but ended up buying the partially completed house from Mirmelli in October for $5.9 million. At the time, Glaser listed it for just under $10 million with Douglas Elliman’s Dina Goldentayer. The price was bumped up to $12.9 million in March as a result of the overactive market.

Glaser said the buyer bought it “sight unseen.”

The house was designed by Domo Architecture + Design. The property includes 60 feet of water frontage, a dock and open water access.

Palm Beach deals

In Palm Beach, Glaser and his partners, Scott Robins and Jonathan Fryd, sold the 8,306-square-foot estate at 259 Pendleton Avenue for $17.5 million. Property records show 259 Pendleton PB, led by Hilary Budny and Joseph Taylor of Matrix Development Group, acquired the home.

The property overlooks The Breakers golf course, according to the listing. It was on the market with Suzanne Frisbie of Premier Estate Properties. Margit Brandt of Brown Harris Stevens brought the buyer.

It has eight bedrooms, seven and a half bathrooms, a library, exercise room, guest house, pool and spa and a two-car garage. It sits on a nearly half-acre lot that Glaser’s entity bought in July for $6.3 million. Glaser and his partners completed the new house in about eight months.

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Glaser, along with his wife, Kim, sold 1221 North Lake Way in Palm Beach, a six-bedroom, six-and-a-half-bathroom home for $14.3 million. Glaser said he had previously renovated the 6,040-square-foot lakefront house, which was originally designed by architect Belford Shoumate, and just completed a second renovation. The property includes a pool, deep water dock and deeded beach access. Glaser said he previously sold the cabana for $1.6 million.

Frisbie represented the Glasers, while Whitney McGurk of Brown Harris Stevens brought the buyer, according to Realtor.com. The buyer is also from New York, though Glaser declined to disclose the identity.

Also this week, Glaser’s 215 Indian Road LLC paid $6.4 million for the five-bedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom house at 215 Indian Road in Palm Beach. James and Madeleine Zahringer sold the waterfront 4,573-square-foot home, records show. James Zahringer is a managing director at Alex. Brown, a division of Raymond James.

Glaser’s entity financed the purchase with a $5 million loan from Centennial Bank, according to records.

Christian Angle with Christian Angle Real Estate represented the sellers, and Frisbie represented Glaser. The waterfront 0.3-acre property fronts the Intracoastal Waterway.

Glaser said he plans to renovate the Art Deco house with a new roof and windows and make it “Palm Springs meets Palm Beach.” The project will be completed in about four months to market it in time for October or November, he added.

The Miami and Palm Beach developer has closed deals totaling $177 million since January, he said, as both markets face a shortage of luxury homes, especially on the waterfront.

His other deals this year in Palm Beach include his purchase of Jeffrey Epstein’s house, which he is demolishing; and his flip of a landmarked estate he was restoring, for $27.5 million.

An earlier version of this story misidentified Glaser’s partners.