Former watch retailers Shlomi and Lior Ben-Shmuel have sold a beachfront mansion on Alison Island in Miami Beach for $17.6 million.
The brothers sold the house at 6640 Allison Road to a trust named after the address, with Philadelphia real estate attorney Lester E. Lipschutz signing on behalf of the buyer, records show. The actual buyer is unknown.
Shlomi Ben-Shmuel’s wife, Cristina Ben-Shmuel of Rusty Stein & Company, owns the list. Jonathan Bigelman of One Sotheby’s International Realty brought in buyers. Bigman declined to comment on the identity of the buyer.
The Ben-Shmuel brothers founded Hollywood-based Swiss Watch International, which was acquired in 2012 by Santa Monica, California-based Clearlake Capital Group. Swiss Watch closed in 2017, according to the South Florida Business Journal.
The brothers bought the Allison Road mansion in 2021 for $14.5 million and planned to renovate the property, but they ultimately did not.
Built in 1992, the two-story home is 8,900 square feet and has eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms, records show. The property includes 170 feet of water frontage, dock and pool. It’s advertised as an opportunity to “build your dream home” or renovate an existing mansion.
Bigman confirmed the buyers intended to demolish the mansion and build a new home on the property, and that they had contacted the project’s architect.
“There won’t be a budget,” he said of the upcoming construction.
The buyer, like many South Florida luxury real estate buyers, has spent a year looking for a turnkey home, Bigman said. New construction dominates South Florida’s luxury market, with buyers looking to move in quickly and avoid the hassle of managing new home construction.
“If we don’t want to find anything turn-key, we might as well find a great property and make it our own,” Bigman said of their decision to transition. “There’s a lot to take on. Most people don’t want to take on architects, contractors, permits—all that jazz.”
Allison Island, a gated oceanfront enclave within Miami Beach, has attracted some big-name buyers in recent years, following the pandemic-induced influx of wealthy residents to the area.
In February, rapper Lil Wayne sold his beachfront home on Allison Island for $22.6 million. The mansion is listed for $28 million, up from the $17 million the music star paid in 2018. Another rapper, Grammy winner Future, bought a beach house on Alison Island last December for $16.3 million. That same month, the wife of a hedge fund manager sold her waterfront home for $13.3 million.
