For car enthusiasts, it’s the ultimate dream: a condo that allows you to park your car outside your oceanfront condo on, say, the 20th floor. Until the Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida opened in March 2017, such a wish remained fantasy.
But now a second brand in the Volkswagen Group is following in Porsche’s wake.
“The Bentley brand is one of the best car brands in the world and they make some of the most amazing vehicles on the road today, some of the most elegant and highest performance,” said Gil Deezer, president of Dezer Development, which is partnering with Bentley.
“So that’s the obvious reason why we why we chose to use that brand going into this this tower.”
Built with car enthusiasts in mind
The Bentley Residences, also in Sunny Isles Beach, will become the second Volkswagen Group brand to offer oceanfront residences built with an in-unit multi-car garage accessed through a patented car elevator. The building will have four, all built at the core of the building.
Owners drive into a room and shut their vehicle off. Then, their vehicle is mechanically transferred by a valet into an elevator that climbs 800 feet per minute to their floor. Once there, the vehicle is mechanically transferred by the valet to one of the spaces in their in-unit multi-car garage.
The patented car elevator fitted with a built-in sprinkler system to prevent fires. The building has four such elevators, created by the building’s developer Gil Dezer, an idea that started when Dezer began planning the Porsche Design Tower.
“When we started this project, I said, ‘why can it just be a freight elevator that we toss a few cars on?” Dezer said. “And all the governing bodies looked at me and just started laughing. And so I said, ‘Okay, well, what are we going to do?’
The result was the Dezervator, a patented design unique to his buildings and intended to prevent any fires. “It’s an automated system,” he said. “It just picks up your car; you never start an engine.”
But it’s more than just the cool factor that drove the decision.
“Every other developer gives away parking,” Dezer said. “In our buildings, it’s included in your unit and we’re charging for it. So from a financial standpoint, it’s more efficient.”
And in a big way.
“Where typically in a building where 100% of the building is available, 55% is lost for things like lobbies, hallways, common areas, and of course, parking. Of that 55%, about 40% is parking,” he added. “We find it makes financial sense.”
More than a condo with a convenient parking space
The 60-story tower will measure 749 feet high, making it the tallest residential tower on any U.S. beachfront.
Developed at a cost of $850 million, Bentley Residences range in size from 4,200 to 6,500 square feet per unit with Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal views. Priced from $4.2 million, they have up to 2,000 square feet of outdoor living space.
Each balcony has its own private outdoor shower, swimming pool and Florida room. As you might expect, the units are as high-end as the car they’re named for, with kitchens fitted with German-made Gaggenau appliances and touch points featuring the knurling pattern used on Bentley automobiles.
The tower was designed by architectural firm Sieger Suarez Architects, which engineered the building to meet Florida Green Building Council certification to ensure maximum environmental and wildlife protection.
The Bentley Residences is the vision of Dezer Development, which was founded in 1970 by Michael Dezer and now run by his son, company president Gil Dezer. The developer has holdings in New York, Florida and Las Vegas. The company also built Residences by Armani/Casa, also in Sunny Isles Beach among many others.
Before there was Bentley, there was Porsche
Call the Bentley Residences an encore. For Dezer, it certainly is, having already worked with another automaker from The Volkswagen Group.
“Porsche was more of a stylized kind of thing; with Bentley it’s more of a timeless elegance,” Dezer said. “And so, we’re going for that look and feel.”
Dezer developed the Porsche Design Tower, a 641-foot-tall, 59-story luxury condominium in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, with units priced from $6.3 million to $32.5 million.
Developed at a cost of $560 million, it was the first condominium building with three car elevators, and like the Bentley Residences, was developed with car enthusiasts in mind. Vehicles are separated from the owner’s unit by a glass wall. This allows you to admire your chariot from the comfort of your living room.
Other automakers getting into the act
Boutique British automaker Aston Martin is also entering the real estate market with their new tower in Miami.
Currently on sale, the 66-floor tower has 391 condominium units, ranging from 698-square-foot studios to 10,463 square foot, five-bedroom penthouses.
Unlike Dezer’s developments, the units lack an in-unit multi-car garage. But the top units have similar amenities, including expansive terraces, private pool and an outdoor shower. Views are not of the ocean however, but that of Biscayne Bay and the Miami River.
But when it comes to the Bentley Residences, the one option it doesn’t come with is a Bentley. But, as Dezer said, if you afford the apartment, you certainly can afford the car.
