The Real Deal just covered our latest transaction. My team and I represented the buyers of Ember House, the newly built waterfront estate at 513 Middle River Drive in Fort Lauderdale, now under contract at $51 million. When it listed in April at $55 million, it was the highest-priced residential listing in Broward County, and this sale will rank among the city's biggest ever.
The home is the work of developer Dov Stark, who has lived in Fort Lauderdale for more than 25 years and has built five homes in the Sunrise Intracoastal neighborhood, where he lives just two doors down from this one. He bought the 0.4-acre lot in 2024, took down the existing home, and spent 15 months and $35 million in construction alone bringing his most ambitious project to life. His signature move here is a facade of backlit quartzite that makes the entire house glow after dark, which is exactly how Ember House earned its name.
Inside, there are six bedrooms, eleven full bathrooms and four half baths across roughly 15,000 square feet, plus another 5,000 square feet of outdoor living space along 145 feet of waterfrontage. There is an 85-foot mosaic pool, an eight-car garage, and even a rooftop pickleball court. Not a single wall in the house is painted. Every surface is finished in stone, leather, wood or fabric.
My clients came to me after touring home after home in Miami Beach and Golden Beach, and none of them sparked anything. Everything felt like the same bland white box. Then we crossed into Fort Lauderdale. As I told the press, "When they got to Fort Lauderdale, they made us cancel all the other appointments."
Their instinct is being confirmed all around them. In May, a Fort Lauderdale mansion traded for $26 million. In June, a waterfront estate sold for $35.8 million. In July, a proposed trophy home hit the market at $80 million. Buyers want a front-row seat to this city's boating lifestyle, and the record book shows it.
The deal is expected to close in January. I could not be happier for my clients, who trusted their eyes and their hearts and ended up with one of the most extraordinary homes in South Florida.
Read The Real Deal's full coverage here: [TRD article]
