|
|
 |
|
| June 25, 2004 |
By:
Paola Iuspa-Abbott |
|
 |
|
|
John Casablancas sold the house he built for
under the asking price
Photo by
Aixa
Montero
|
|
|
Related Stories
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|  ashion
mogul John Casablancas, who founded Elite Model Management, has sold
the waterfront house he built last year in Key Biscayne to a
Miami-based investor for $3.56 million.
Casablancas
and his wife, Aline, put their home on the market three months ago
and received three offers. It sits on a canal just a few blocks
north of Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park.
The
Mediterranean-style home has marble and wood floors and huge
windows. It was initially listed for $3.86 million, said James
Salas, the broker who represented the buyers. Salas is president of
Key Biscayne-based E Realty International.
William M.
Noyes and his wife, Gabrielle, bought the 8,202-square-foot home at
260 Island Drive in late May.
“I’ve been
looking for a house on the waterfront for a couple of years because
we have two boats and two children,” said William Noyes, a 20-year
resident of Key Biscayne. “We needed more space.”
Noyes said
the house has seven bedrooms and nine baths.
On June 8,
the Noyeses obtained a mortgage for $1.78 million from Northern
Trust Bank of Florida, according to county property records.
William and Gabrielle Noyes also own two units at the
Key Colony condominium on the barrier island, but they are up for
sale. One is already under contract, said Noyes, who described
himself as an investor but declined to disclose the kinds of
businesses he’s involved in.
The
1.25-square-mile village of Key Biscayne has about 1,275
single-family homes and only few are for sale, Salas said. Property
prices on the island fluctuate by the week, depending on the number
of houses on the market, Salas said.
“There are
53 single-family homes on the market,” he said. “This is not
healthy. In a healthy market, you have about 120 homes up for sale.”
Because of the demand, property appreciation in Key
Biscayne can reach 15 percent per year. New homes similar to the one
Casablancas sold are currently selling for about $4 million, he
said.
“The land value was about $2.6 million when Noyes
signed the contract,” he said. “Since then, the demand has gone up
and prices increased.”
In July
2001, Casablancas bought a 40-year-old house on the
13,800-square-foot lot for $1.82 million. The lot is on the bank of
a canal that empties into Biscayne Bay.
He
demolished the old house and hired Key Biscayne architect Deborah de
Leon to design a home more than twice the size of the original one.
“He built a beautiful house,” said Cecile M. Sanchez, a
broker with Fortune International Realty in Miami, who represented
Casablancas. She declined to comment on the transaction, citing her
client’s privacy.
Salas said
Casablancas plans to continue residing in Miami, while traveling
back and forth to Brazil, where his wife is from.
Casablancas
moved to Florida from New York in October 1999. In Miami, he
launched Elite Latin & South America, which he sold a year
later.
In 2000, he became a partner in Global Fashion
Productions, which puts on the annual Fashion Week of the Americas
in Miami.
Casablancas
made his fortune in the modeling industry. He started John
Casablancas, a school for aspiring models.
He also
founded Elite in 1972 with its first office in Paris. Two years
later, he opened Elite New York.
Elite
currently operates in Chicago, Los Angles, Miami and other major
U.S. and international cities. He sold the business in 1999 and
moved to Miami.
Casablancas
transformed the modeling industry back in the 1980s and ’90s,
helping launch the career of the first supermodels. His clients
included Christie Brinkley, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Naomi
Campbell, Stephanie Seymour, Iman and Claudia Schiffer, said
Casablancas’ spokeswoman, Lorraine Caggiano.
Casablancas,
through his spokeswoman, declined to comment.
Under
pressure from a multimillion-dollar verdict against it in a
workplace suit, Elite Model Management filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection in February. New York-based Carl Marks Capital
Advisors is handling the sale of the company’s assets, which include
Elite Los Angeles, Elite Miami, and other North American
subsidiaries.
Elite is
also involved in a class action lawsuit.
In June
2002, Elite and 12 other modeling agencies were named in a $50
million antitrust lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York. The complaint filed on behalf of
about 10,000 models said Elite played a key role in a price-fixing
scheme for more than 20 years. The case is pending.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Business
.gif){kind=spacer}
