CEO of Kayak Breaks 2 New Condo Records all on the Same Day

L'Atelier Penthouse View of Pool and Ocean
L'Atelier Penthouse Family Room Views
Photo Credit: Eloy Carmenate

Kayak co-founder and CEO Steve Hafner paid $40 million for a penthouse on Fisher IslandPalazzo Della Luna after selling his smaller unit at L’Atelier Miami Beach for $36 million in two straight record-breaking deals.

One of the records include Mr. Hafner’s duplex at L’Atelier Miami Beach, which was listed for $39.9 million in March and sold on Friday. Mr. Hafner purchased his 6-bedroom, 7.5 bathroom unit at L’Atelier Miami Beach for $21 million in 2017 while the project was still under construction. Mr. Hafner and his wife, Staci Hafner, worked with Bart Reines Luxury Home Builder to redesign the 8,000-square-foot unit.

A glass elevator, a private 40-foot infinity pool, and a summer kitchen and bar are all included in the penthouse. SMG Management and W Capital Group developed L’Atelier.

Mr. Hafner then smashed his own record by purchasing a nearly 10,000-square-foot condo at the Palazzo Della Luna on Fisher Island later that evening. The seven-bedroom mansion was first listed for $40 million in 2018 and then relisted for $48 million in April.

The new purchase sits on Fisher Island, a 216-acre private island south of Miami Beach, and is home to around 800 CEOs and business owners. According to the listing, Mr. Hafner’s new house at the Palazzo Della Luna is on the 10th level with various terraces and a rooftop patio with a pool.

According to the company’s website, Mr. Hafner co-founded Kayak Software Corporation, an online travel booking tool, in 2004. Booking Holdings bought the company for $1.8 billion in 2013. According to property records, Mr. Hafner, who also owns residences in Rowayton, Conn., and the Hamptons, sold his New York condominium for $23.5 million earlier this month.

Before these new records, the county’s highest-priced condo purchase of the year was a penthouse at Continuum that sold for $35 million in April. The highest-priced condo transaction ever was a $60 million double penthouse at Faena House in 2015.

According to the press release, Hafner hasn’t been to their NYC apartment since the pandemic first started and they didn’t see a way back. The seller’s were represented by Eloy Carmenate with The Corcoran Group. The buyer of the L’Atelier penthouse is currently unknown.

Wetbar at Penthouse at L'Atelier
Photo Credit: Eloy Carmenate
L'Atelier Penthouse View of Pool and Ocean
Photo Credit: Eloy Carmenate
L'Atelier Penthouse Aerial View
Photo Credit: Eloy Carmenate

Faena Arts Center Starts Teasing Us Early as It Nears Completion

Mid-beach’s Faena Hotel and Faena House residential tower may be done already, and making a big impression on Miamians and out-of-towners for their glamour, their theatricality, and their designs, but it’s easy to forget that those two statement-making buildings are just the first section of the larger Faena District to debut.

Two more luxury condo towers called Versailles Classic and Faena Mar, retail, and a high-design parking iceberg are all cranes-up and underway, whizzing around a cylindrical arts center and forum, which is probably the closest of all to completion.  Meanwhile, Allan Faena and his crew are wasting no time in teasing the forum’s arts potential, with a savvy Faena Art Facebook Page covering both Faena’s existing Buenos Aires arts center, the future Miami Beach arts center, and the $75,000 Faena arts prize. The new Faena Forum Miami Beach, in a building designed by starchitect Rem Koolhaas and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture will debut this fall. Check out a video experimenting with its potential, inside the unfinished space, here:

Foster + Partners Releases Video of Faena House and the Faena District in Miami Beach

Faena House Miami Beach condos

Earlier this week, Foster + Partners released additional renderings of Faena House.  They have now released a fly-through video (see below) which showcases Faena House and the Faena District in Miami Beach.  The 18-story, ultra-luxury development is truly stunning.  Faena House is scheduled for completion in fall of 2014.  50% of its condos are already under contract.

The developer, Alan Faena, is asking $50M for the penthouse pictured above.  Without a doubt, once completed, the penthouse will be one of the most highly acclaimed pieces of property in South Florida.  It will have 8,273 interior square feet and approximately 10,000 square feet of terrace space which will accommodate an outdoor kitchen, cabana and 30-foot-long infinity-edge pool.