Glencoe Billionaire Buys $30.7M Penthouse In Florida: Report

GLENCOE, IL — The owner of the most expensive home sold in village history appears to have broken that record for by more than $10 million to purchase a penthouse unit in a south Florida luxury tower. Property records indicate tech billionaire Eric Lefkofsky, who purchased a $19.5 million lakefront mansion in Glencoe in 2014, spent $30.7 million for a unit in The Surf Club Hotel and Residences, real estate news website The Real Deal Miami reported.

Lefkofsky, 49, founded Groupon a decade ago and has a net worth of $2.5 billion, according to Forbes. While he remains chairman of the coupon company, he has recently been more focused on the health care data startup Tempus he founded in 2015, which last week announced a total valuation of $2 billion. Both companies are headquartered in Chicago.

The Surf Club unit, Penthouse 7 in the south tower of the condo hotel at at 9001 Collins Ave. in Surfside, Florida, was purchased through a Delaware-based LLC that shares an address with Tempus' new offices at 600 W. Chicago Ave., The Real Deal reported. The four-bedroom, six-bathroom unit is 6,755 square feet, according to the website, meaning it was purchased for $4,554 per square foot.

Built on the site of an elite private beach club founded in 1930, the developer bought the 9-acre Surf Club site in 2012 for $116 million. The redevelopment was complete in March 2017 and began attracting numerous notable buyers soon after it began recording closings in May 2017, The Real Deal reported.

There are 13 penthouse units atop twin 120-story towers at the 150-unit condo development at 9001 Collins Ave. in Surfside, Florida, a town just to the north of Miami Beach. The residential towers flank a Four Seasons hotel in the historic Surf Club building.

The remodeled Surf Club was designed by Miami-based architecture firm Kobi Karp and Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Richard Meier, who announced a six-month leave of absence from his firm in March after the New York Times published allegations of sexual misconduct against him from five women.

According to the development's website, Surf Club Penthouses include the "ability for future residents to consult with Richard Meier in the design," private beach cabanas, 20-foot ceilings, private staff quarters, interior bathrooms and private terraces with swimming pools and gardens.

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Lefkofsky's 15,800-square-foot Glencoe mansion was originally designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw more a century ago. Lefkovsky reportedly expanded it after its previous owner tore down about two-thirds of the original building while remodeling. It has an estimated 2018 market value of $15.2 million, according to the Cook County Assessor's Office.

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Photos via Realtor.com