Versace Florida Mansion For Sale At $23 Million
Repo...@home.com
Saturday August 7, 1999
Versace Florida Mansion For Sale At $23 Million
MIAMI (Reuters) - The Mediterranean-style Miami Beach palazzo where
Italian
fashion designer Gianni Versace was gunned down by a fugitive serial
killer two
years ago is on the market for $23 million, a family spokesman said
Friday.
``It's a spectacular house. It's really unique in the world,'' Versace
family
spokesman Lou Colasuonno said. ``But the family focus has shifted. The
South
Beach home is unfortunately now underutilized.''
Versace was shot to death in 1997 on the steps of his villa, and since
then,
the site has become one of Miami's leading tourist attractions. Every
day,
visitors to the glitzy South Beach neighborhood stop to have their
pictures
taken in front of the iron gates where Versace fell.
The designer bought the property in 1992, when it was a shabby apartment
complex amid the colorful, refurbished Art Deco hotels of Ocean Drive.
He
turned it into one of Florida's most audacious properties, a
20,000-square-foot
(1,800 square meter) palace with 12 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms.
Versace turned the house into a showplace for his talents, adding
stained-glass
windows and a mosaic tiled pool done in patterns inspired by his
designs.
The mansion, surrounded by walls, palm trees and lush vegetation, is the
only
private home on Ocean Drive, which was transformed in a dozen years from
a
haven for drug dealers, senior citizens and immigrants into a jet-set
hot spot.
Colasuonno said while the price tag for the home is $23 million, no
decision
had been made on whether to sell the home's furnishings, worth ``many,
many
millions of dollars.''
Versace's murder on the steps of his home made headlines around the
world.
He had strolled home from his favorite cafe on July 15, 1997, and put
his key
in the mansion gate when Andrew Cunanan, wanted in connection with four
murders, walked up to him, put a gun near his ear and pulled the
trigger.
Cunanan was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound nine days later
in a
houseboat a short distance away.
Versace's sister Donatella and brother Santo took over the family's
fashion
empire following his death. Gianni Versace SpA is based in Milan and has
North
American headquarters in New York.
``When they're in the U.S. they tend to be New York-focused,''
Colasuonno said.
The property is listed with Sotheby's International Reality in Palm
Beach.
-------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 8/7/99 online edition of The New
York
Post newspaper:
SLAIN VERSACE'S $25M VILLA
GOES UP FOR SALE
By MALCOLM BALFOUR
New York Post, 08/07/99
MIAMI BEACH - Speculation swirled in South Beach yesterday over who
would come
to call slain designer Gianni Versace's $25 million house a home.
The family this week announced it was putting up for sale the sprawling
20,000-square-foot estate called Casa Casuarina - and the news once
again
turned the property into a tourist attraction.
The first time the manse became a tourist mecca was in 1997, when
Versace was
gunned down at its gate by serial killer Andrew Cunanan.
"I wonder if Sly Stallone is going to buy it," said Flo Hoffstetter, 17,
of
Queens as she stood dressed in Versace jeans and a Versace blouse
outside the
mansion.
"He's Italian, and he likes art, so maybe he'll move back to Miami."
Versace family spokesman Lou Colasuonno said the hefty price tag is
"realistic"
for such an opulent home.
"It really is an amazing palace - quite unique, when you realize it's
the only
privately owned home on the ocean in South Beach," he told The Post.
"It's a special home for anyone with an eye for historic architecture,"
Colasuonno said, "but the Versace family believes it's not being used
enough,
with their company headquarters in Milan and their business headquarters
in
this country in New York."
The mansion was brought over to Miami Beach brick-by-brick from Spain in
1926,
said columnist Linda Marx, who visited Versace there several times.
"It's the most beautiful villa, with fountains in the courtyard and
Greco-Roman
statues throughout. When you go in, it's like entering a dream world,"
she
said.
"It's like a castle, with fireplaces, with sconces on the walls and the
most
beautiful mosaic tiles. And then the artwork. Versace really brought
some
culture to Miami Beach," Marx said.
In the 1950s, the site was turned into the posh Amsterdam Palace. It was
later
converted into a condominium, and then an apartment house.
Versace bought Casuarina for $3 million in 1992 and the adjoining lot
for $3.7
million. He reportedly spent more than $13 million on restorations.
-------------------------------------------------------
The following appears courtesy of the 8/7/99 online edition of The Ft.
Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel newspaper:
Versace's digs -- scene of murder -- on the block
By LUISA YANEZ Miami Bureau
Aug. 7, 1999
One of South Florida's best-known landmarks, the South Beach mansion of
Gianni
Versace, has gone on the market, two years after the Italian fashion
designer
was murdered on its coral steps.
The Ocean Drive mansion on 11th Street gets little use since
Versace's
murder by spree killer Andrew Cunanan, so his siblings, Donatella and
Santo,
have decided to sell it.
"It's a fantastic, beautiful residence, but it's underutilized,"
said the
family's New York spokesman, Lou Colasuonno, on Friday.
Dubbed Casa Casuarina, the asking prize for the 12-bedroom,
13-bathroom
Mediterranean-style palazzo is between $23 and $25 million, depending on
whether the buyer wants its glorious furnishings, Colasuonno said.
"It has only been on the market a couple of days, but there's
already been
some interest," Colasuonno said. Sotheby's International Realty in Palm
Beach
has the listing.
The eye-catching villa, a popular tourist attraction even before
Versace's
murder, is the only private residence along waterfront Ocean Drive.
Versace purchased the property in 1992 for $2.9 million and caused a
stir
because he later knocked down an Art Deco hotel to expand the property.
He also
paid nearly $4 million for an adjoining property.
Preservationists on Miami Beach had hoped the villa, built around an
interior courtyard, sporting ceiling frescoes, mosaic tile and a pool
with a
floor design of a Versace scarf, would have been turned into a public
museum.
Versace had loved staying at the mansion and was one of the early
celebrities to fall in love with South Beach. His presence there had
attracted
other popular designers and models to the area.
But on the morning of July 15, Versace, 50, strolled to a nearby
newsstand
to buy magazines. As he walked up the steps to his gate, he was ambushed
by
Cunanan, 27, who fatally shot him in the head.
Cunanan fled, but eight days later, after a manhunt, he committed
suicide
in a nearby houseboat.
Since then, the house has sat empty. Donatella Versace, once a
frequent
visitor, returned in March to the mansion for the first time since her
brother's murder.
Now, the Versaces spend most of their time in the United States in
New
York, the spokesman said.