By Libertina Brandt and E.B. Solomont

A waterfront estate in Naples, Fla., has sold for $225 million, the second-highest home-sale price in U.S. history and a record for the state of Florida.

The seller is tied to the DeGroote family of Canada, property records show. The property was listed for $295 million in February 2024, according to Zillow.

The buyer couldn't be determined. The price was confirmed by Kevin Coleman, an attorney for the buyer, who declined to identify his client or comment further on the deal. The DeGroote family couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The previous Florida record was set in 2022, when Oracle's Larry Ellison paid $173 million for an estate in Manalapan.

The deal comes after a week of major transactions for Florida, where real-estate values have skyrocketed. A waterfront estate on La Gorce Island in Miami Beach has closed for $75 million, according to listing agent Nelson Gonzalez of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty. The sellers were the Kollman family, wealthy Germans who own a conglomerate of textile companies, who listed it for $88 million in February. The identity of the buyer couldn't be determined.

Meanwhile, Texas tech CEO Daniel Nutkis bought a waterfront estate on North Bay Road in Miami Beach for $40 million, according to Chad Carroll of Compass, who represented the buyer and seller in the deal. Carroll declined to name the seller, but property records show it was purchased in 2021 for $23.65 million by an LLC linked to Sky Ventures, a company founded by Ben Uretsky. Uretsky, who is also co-founder of the software company DigitalOcean, declined to comment on the transaction when reached by phone.

Nutkis was interested in the property before it officially went on the market, according to Carroll. "There are few turnkey homes in Miami Beach and this happens to be one," Carroll said. "If I had 10 of these houses I'd sell all 10."

Over the past few years, North Bay Road has become known as the richest residential strips in Miami-Dade County, with roughly 150 waterfront homes collectively worth more than $1.7 billion. Not far from the Nutkis property, a vacant roughly 0.6-acre lot sold in April for $22.85 million.

Spanning about 15 acres, the Naples property has multiple residences. The DeGrootes assembled the compound starting in the 1990s, records show.

The La Gorce property sits on about 1.1 acres on the guard-gated island, which is connected to Miami Beach by bridge. The main house is about 16,770 square feet, with a sculptural staircase inspired by Manhattan's Guggenheim museum. There are nine bedrooms between the main house and a separate guesthouse. The property has about 260 feet of water frontage with two docks, a 100-foot pool and a man-made beach.

The North Bay Road property sits on roughly half an acre and has about 100 feet of frontage on Biscayne Bay, according to Carroll. It has three circa-2021 structures, he said, including a six-bedroom main house with two kitchens: a show kitchen and a chef's kitchen with a walk-in freezer. There is also a one-bedroom guesthouse, a pool and a cabana that was used as a gym.

Nutkis purchased the property as a second-home, he said in an email. He is planning a roughly $8 million renovation with interior designer Troy Dean Ippolito.

Nutkis is founder of the Texas cybersecurity company HITRUST. He lives primarily in Dallas, picked Miami Beach for its beaches and vibrant nightlife, he said.

Ryan Mendell of Maxwelle Realty represented the buyer of the La Gorce property. He declined to name the purchaser, but said it went under contract in about a month, he said.

Thus far, Mendell said, the stock market volatility that has followed President Trump's announcement of sweeping tariffs has had little to no impact on the ultraluxury single-family market in Miami Beach.

Michael McCumber of Gulf Coast International Properties, who had the listing for the DeGroote property, didn't return a call seeking comment.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 25, 2025 17:29 ET (21:29 GMT)

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