Courtesy of Bentley Residences Miami
Paparazzi, gawkers, selfie hounds—the bane of many a celebrity. It’s even worse if you’re a celeb who wants to relax in Miami—a city where spring breakers descend every year, bringing noise, crowds, traffic, parking nightmares, and even violence.
So does this mean VIPs have no chance of a quiet, reclusive life in the 305? On the contrary, it might be possible at the Bentley Residences—a gleaming tower at 18401 Collins Avenue in Sunny Isles Beach, FL, a mere 10 miles from Miami’s epicenter of debauchery.
Provided you’ve got the means—condos in this building start at $5.6 million—complete oceanfront privacy awaits in this 63-story tower, which broke ground in February and will be the tallest on a U.S. beach once completed in late 2027.
The developer claims the tower is a place where you can be insulated from not only gawkers, but also your neighbors.
A rendering of the Bentley Residences on Sunny Isles Beach, Miami
Realtor.com
“Privacy is one of the few luxuries we can sell that no one else can sell,” says the tower’s lead developer, Gil Dezer of Dezer Platinum Realty. “And it’s hard to get in Miami. Single-family homes are all on top of each other. Condos have communal living.”
That promise of privacy (and ultraluxury) has lured expected big-name tenants such as Argentinian soccer great Lionel Messi (and his mother); star player of the Colorado Rockies Carlos “CarGo” González; rappers Birdman, Anuel AA, Future, and Wyclef Jean; Colombian singer Maluma; and billionaire businessmen Carlos Peralta Quintero, Igor Yakovlev, and Terry Taylor, among others.
Despite soaring mortgage interest and insurance rates, Dezer says his cash-flush buyers are undeterred, and that 86 of Bentley’s 216 units are already sold. (The $70 million penthouse is still available.)
How to build a paparazzi-proof building
So how, exactly, does this building manage to pull off this promise of ultimate privacy?
It starts with the patented Dezervator—an automated car-elevator named after the building’s developer—which whisks residents, still in their vehicles, straight up to their three- or four-car garages, which are right off their units. A resident’s “key” to their apartment is simply their vehicle.
In other words, gone are the days when your car (we presume a Bentley Bentayga or Flying Spur) would share space with other automobiles in a basement garage. The Dezervator also shields residents from awkward elevator rides with neighbors.
A rendering of the Dezervator, which will take you and your car straight to your apartment
Bentley Residences Miami
A rendering of the tower, where you can park and walk straight into your living area. This car-only entrance also means bypassing the building’s lobby.
“Here, you don’t have to dress up to walk through the lobby if you want to go to Starbucks,” says Dezer. “You don’t need to see a doorman or valet. You can get into your elevator, go up, and go home.”
A rendering of the lobby
Realtor.com
Another surprisingly private amenity in the luxury tower is the swimming pool. Bentley residents each get a pool on a private deck that’s designed to eliminate sight lines from neighboring units or even long-lens cameras from other buildings.
“When COVID was happening, buildings had common areas shut. No one could use the pool. In our buildings, everyone has their own,” Dezer explains. “If you want, you can live in complete privacy. You never even have to see your neighbors.”
A rendering of a private pool
Bentley Residences Miami
A rendering of the bathroom overlooking the water
Realtor.com
Granted, the tower will have common areas, but they will be restricted to residents and their friends and family. The Bentley is not open to the public in any capacity.
No randos will be allowed anywhere near the restaurant (run by resident chef Todd English), the beach club, the whiskey bar, the movie theater, or the cigar lounge. The building is also cashless.
“The only people who can sit next to you are your friends or other people who live in the building,” Dezer promises. “No one will be sitting next to you because they can afford a $200 meal and you’ve paid $8 million to be there.”
A rendering of a bedroom overlooking Sunny Isles
Realtor.com
The building is extremely exclusive, so Dezer was taken aback when disgraced Fyre Festival founder and fraudster Billy McFarland recently bragged in a TikTok video about a timeshare opportunity in the Bentley for Fyre Festival 2 ticket holders. (The video has since been deleted.)
Dezer confirms that McFarland did express a desire to purchase a unit and make the Bentley a home base for Fyre Festival 2. But there was never a signed contract, and Dezer would have never allowed a timeshare in the Bentley.
“That’s not happening,” asserts Dezer. “We don’t allow that.”
Billy McFarland recently posted a video about using the Bentley as a timeshare for Fyre Fest 2 $1M ticket holders.
The post A Sneak Peek Inside America’s Most Private, Paparazzi-Proof Building (It’s Not in L.A. or NYC) appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.
