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Miami Beach
Big White Stucco House
Developer will try to sell future home for more than $25
million
By Erik Bojnansky
The
Miami Beach Design Review Board approved plans for a
two-story, 8,655-square-foot house on property that will
take up half of the two-acre La Gorce Island.
Its exterior will solely consist of smooth, white stucco.
And, once built, the developer will sell it for a lot of
money.
“He’s hoping to sell it in the neighborhood of $25 and $30
million, and he’ll get it too,” said the house’s architect,
Ralph Choeff.
The developer, Todd Glazer, has done it before. His past
credits include building multimillion-dollar homes for Hulk
Hogan (with his then-business partner Alan Lieberman) and
movie producer
Michael Bay.
But why all-white stucco?
“The residence was made all stucco to simplify the design
and let the geometry of the structure read naturally, rather
than incorporate all the added materials that would have
made the design too busy,” Choeff said.
The plans differ from a design previously approved by the
Single Family Residential Review Panel in October, when it
gave its blessing for Glazer to demolish a decades-old,
two-story home that once stood at 88 La Gorce Circle. Miami
Beach Planning Department staff stated in a report to the
Design Review Board that they preferred the old design with
“exterior veneers” that “included a very unique mix
of exterior surface finishes, which were part and parcel of
the design of the structure.” Losing those veneers would
“lessen the overall quality of the design of the structure.”
Some board members were also perplexed by some of the white
stucco design elements. That skepticism melted away, though,
when board members realized that the home would be
constructed on a privately owned, 45,543-square-foot lot —
huge by Miami Beach standards, board member Steve Lefton
said. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen an acre.”
Comments? E-mail
erik@miamisunpost.com
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