Douglas Elliman’s Lourdes Alatriste brings Fox Information Digital inside an $18.9 million house in Coconut Grove, the place historical past and luxurious intersect.
After months of touring South Florida’s most fortified islands and branded penthouses, the ultimate cease on the “billionaire bunker” circuit reveals a shift within the ultra-high-net-worth psyche.
Rich transplants are now not simply shopping for safety – they’re shopping for historical past. Tucked behind the plush, designer landscaping of a Gothic-modern $18 million property, the “Silicon Grove” period has arrived. Right here, the bunker is not a contemporary glass field, however as a substitute options grand areas, hand-carved stone fixtures and even an enormous chessboard on the roof that feels extra like a European cathedral than a Miami residence.
As taxes scream within the Northeast and West Coast, titans of business are discovering that true luxurious in 2026 means a non-public dock, keystone-edged infinity pool and the liberty to stroll to an area bookstore with no safety element in tow — together with Google co-founder Larry Web page, who simply poured greater than $188 million into the neighborhood.
“Folks of that caliber do their homework earlier than they buy something. Regardless how emotional or how impulsive it’s, they at all times are guided they usually’re taught the place to purchase or the place to not purchase, and their advisors advised them that Coconut Grove was the place,” Douglas Elliman’s Lourdes Alatriste, who has an extended roster of A-list shoppers, advised Fox Information Digital.
INSIDE THE 50-HOME MIAMI SANCTUARY WHERE SMART MONEY IS BUYING DECADES OF SECURITY FOR THEIR KIDS
“And that simply makes it the whole lot that I’ve at all times stated: Coconut Grove is a hidden gem. It has the whole lot… from water, to walks, to parks, to shops, to household.”
Houses within the Coconut Grove neighborhood of Miami, Florida, on Monday, March 23, 2026. (Getty Pictures)
Coconut Grove is Miami-Dade County’s oldest neighborhood, having been based by settlers within the 1870s and annexed by Miami in 1925. Its ascent started within the Sixties when it was dubbed as “The Grove,” and attracted largely Bohemian artists, musicians and writers. Throughout the Eighties, cash began flowing as a result of top of America’s cocaine increase, and whereas Coconut Grove maintained a few of its hippie vibe, new residential developments took over the panorama.
Quick-forward to in the present day, and “hastily, it began selecting up once more as a result of [people] observed, when you’ve got a spot, when there is no extra land, and you’ve got a location that fills all of your wishes as to varsities, as to parks, as to retailers, as to way of life, privateness, you go for it. You begin constructing it up,” Alatriste defined. “You are taking the areas which can be nice and make them even higher.”
The house the posh agent confirmed to Fox Information Digital paralleled the group’s mixture of historical past and new age extravagance. Upon getting into, an excellent corridor hits you with 30-foot vaulted ceilings and shiny marble flooring that hum with a cool, heavy permanence. Huge, smooth-plastered white fireplaces act as anchors, whereas vintage stained-glass home windows — positioned excessive like clerestories — forged colourful, geometric shadows throughout fashionable white bouclé armchairs and French forged bronze chandeliers.
The first room balcony overlooks Biscayne Bay. | FOXBusiness
Based on Alatriste, the house’s asking value of $18.9 million is definitely “slightly bit beneath” expectations.
“After I give costs, there’s at all times three costs for me: A wow issue… Then there [are] the common costs comparable with the comps within the space, and there is the value I’ve to promote tomorrow. So, with that stated, I believe Coconut Grove has maintained its wow issue,” she stated.
“You’ve a chance now that I do not know for those who’ll have it afterward. As [prices rise] and as extra folks are available in, as a result of we nonetheless have lots of people, and keep in mind, Florida does not simply have a sure [migration demographic], like New Yorkers or California, they’ve the whole lot. They’ve Mexico. They’ve Brazil… Chicago… It is a melting pot of various states and international locations that come right here.”
Douglas Elliman Unique Group co-founder Devin Kay takes Fox Information Digital inside a multi-million greenback Allison Island house in the identical tight-knit neighborhood the place Google’s Sergey Brin moved to.
Whereas Indian Creek Village, 4 Seasons Surf Membership and Allison Island depend on personal safety forces, the Grove depends on a tradition of “respectful distance.” The houses are designed to permit high-profile house owners to interact with the world on their phrases, that includes outside areas that look out with out being seen.
Among the most notable residents have included Madonna, LeBron James, Sylvester Stallone, Jimmy Buffett, Derek Jeter, Christian Slater — and for historical past’s sake, phone inventor Alexander Graham Bell.
“You need to go to dinner, come again and never [have] worry or something. You need to go on a visit and need to know that your space is being lined, that you do not have to fret. There’s at all times going to be one thing that we won’t management, however mainly, folks that dwell round you’ll at all times deal with you as effectively,” Alatriste stated of the sense of group in Coconut Grove. “They’re not star-crazy… they’re very respectful of others.”
The Corcoran Group’s Mick Duchon provides Fox Information Digital a tour of a $21.95 million unit on the 4 Seasons residences in Surfside, the place ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz simply purchased the penthouse.
For tech titans like Web page and different forces of business, the draw to Florida has allegedly shifted to a life-style change versus being strictly about enterprise.
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“I believe they’re going to at all times discuss taxes. Cash screams,” Alatriste stated. “However after all at that caliber, your way of life is extra essential than the cash.”
“Wellness, authenticity and group… These are the three phrases to greatest describe Coconut Grove.”
