Alex Sapir Sells Venetian Islands Mansion for $33M Amid Divorce
The Arte Surfside developer is giving up the family home just as his divorce case heads to a non-jury trial next month.
Alex Sapir, the developer behind Arte Surfside and son of the late New York real estate figure Tamir Sapir, has given up the waterfront home he once shared with his wife, selling it in the middle of a divorce fight that has dragged on for four years. Alex and Yanina Sapir sold the mansion at 126 West San Marino Drive on Venetian Islands in Miami Beach for $33 million on Tuesday, according to the Multiple Listing Service, about a month before their case is set for trial.
Why it matters
The house had become one of the sticking points in the Sapirs’ divorce, cycling through multiple listing agents before closing this week. For Alex Sapir, who runs Sapir Organization and Sapir Corp. and built the boutique Arte Surfside condo tower in North Beach, the sale marks the end of the couple’s Venetian Islands chapter rather than a real estate win. He is still pursuing an Edgewater development site and a partnership with the Trump Organization on a Tbilisi tower, but the home that anchored his family life in South Florida is now gone. Our South Florida desk is tracking the fallout as the case moves toward trial.
The numbers
The Sapirs paid $17.3 million for the 0.4-acre, 8,000-square-foot estate in 2018 through a trust linked to Yanina, property records show. It has five bedroom suites, a home theater, a wine room, 90 feet of water frontage and a multivessel dock. The property was listed with Douglas Elliman’s Bill Hernandez and Bryan Sereny asking $36 million, and Compass agent Miltiadis Kastanis represented the buyer. Money disputes have run alongside the sale: Yanina says Alex missed a $122,500 payment for her moving expenses, while Alex’s attorney has filed a charging lien for $270,835 in legal fees.
What’s next
A non-jury trial is scheduled for October 19, though the former couple could still settle beforehand. Alex said in a statement that his lawyer “is happy to close this chapter and wishes his ex-wife all the best.” Unresolved money claims from both sides, the missed moving payment and the attorney’s lien, remain open ahead of the trial date.