Miami CEO wants $70 million for Coral Gables mansion. Take a peek inside the house
A Spanish-language television station executive wants to close the curtain on his longtime Coral Gables mansion, a stomping ground for Latin stars he recently put on the market for nearly $70 million, despite a luxury home-sales slowdown.
Raúl Alarcón, CEO of Spanish Broadcasting System, listed his seven-bedroom Tuscan-style waterfront spread in the Journey’s End neighborhood in April for $69.9 million. He bought the two-story residence with eight bathrooms and a powder room in 2006 for $12 million, and raised his children in the gated neighborhood off of Old Cutler Road and a stone’s throw from Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. He’s welcomed several well-known visitors to his home, including Shakira, Marc Anthony, Ozuna and music producer Emilio Estefan.
The 11,000-square-foot house sits on a two-acre lot with over 500 feet of water frontage and access to the Biscayne Bay. The property includes a 12-person movie theater, four-car garage, basketball court and pool. Alarcón shared the neighborhood with movers-and-shakers, including Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos, Bezos’ parents and supermodel Elle Macpherson.
South Florida has experienced a boom in luxury residential sales — those over $1 million — during the pandemic that emerged in March 2020, due to wealth newcomers to Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties from across the country. However, the number of incoming executives like billionaire Citadel hedge fund manager Ken Griffin and corporate expansions overall have slowed. As a result, the luxury market cooled in Miami-Dade County in the latter part of last year, despite record-breaking transactions in 2022.
“You want a house that big, that private, there’s nothing,” said Saddy Abaunza Delgado of ONE Sotheby’s International Realty and co-listing agent of the Alarcón residence. “We will find that one unique guy in a market that is not as sizzling as 2020 and 2021 ... for different reasons like their taxes. It takes one buyer.”
Delgado who listed the Alarcón residence with her colleague Valeria Kelly, said she has already shown the house to two prospective New York buyers. She thinks the residence can fetch its asking price, despite the luxury home sales slowdown and one of the most recent comparable sales — Bezos’ parents 12,829-square-foot home selling in July 2022 for $34 million, 51% less than what Alarcón wants for his mansion.
After the house sells, Delgado said Alarcón plans to stay in Miami. As an empty nester, he apparently wants to downsize to a smaller abode somewhere in South Florida. He was not immediately available for an interview.
Alarcón started the Miami-based Spanish Broadcasting System in 1983 with his father, a native of Cuba. The TV station was known for its Mega TV division. In February, the company made headlines after it decided to sell its Mega TV unit for $64 million.
