Anthony Lopez, the fiancé of former “Real Housewives of Miami” star Dr. Nicole Martin, has quietly shelled out $16 million for a Coral Gables home that is already destined for the wrecking ball. The deal is the latest in a growing string of high-end moves the couple has been making in the city’s luxury market.
Purchase and plans
According to South Florida Business Journal, Lopez paid $16 million for the property and plans to demolish the existing home so he can put up a much larger mansion. The outlet reports the site is being treated as a teardown, a familiar play in Coral Gables where buyers often knock down older houses and replace them with custom estates.
Buyer background and recent flips
Lopez is an insurance attorney who runs Your Insurance Attorney and is engaged to Martin. The couple has been particularly busy in Coral Gables real estate lately. Earlier this month, they flipped a waterfront Gables Estates mansion in an off-market sale that The Real Deal reported at $55 million.
What it means for the Gables market
The purchase highlights a persistent pattern in Coral Gables: deep-pocketed buyers are still willing to pay steep prices for land, especially on or near the water, and many would rather start fresh with teardown-and-rebuild projects than undertake full renovations. Local reporting points to several record-setting sales this season, and teardown buys like this one keep for-sale inventory tight while pushing lot values higher, according to the South Florida Business Journal.
