Curry investor Robert Rivani bought a Miami Beach investment home

Commercial real estate investor Robert Rivani paid $23 million for a waterfront Miami Beach mansion. The real deal has learned

Rivani, who leads her Miami-based firm Rivani, formerly Black Lion, plans to spend millions of dollars renovating the 9,200-square-foot mansion at 16 Palm Ave., according to sources. Rivani lives in Miami’s Morningside and bought the house as an investment.

The seller is Tom Sullivan, founder and CEO of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee-based Lumber Liquidators, according to records. Sullivan signed a contract to sell the 0.8-acre property in October.

The six-bedroom, six-and-a-half-story home was listed with Louis Bosch of Venetian International, asking $24.9 million. It hit the market in December for $27.9 million, and was previously listed for $32.5 million in 2021.

Dina Goldentier of Douglas Elliman represented Revani. She is also listing the house for rent, asking 79,500 a month.

The house was built in 1930, and previously sold for $11.5 million in 2008, records show. According to a press release from Rivani’s firm, the lot has 220 feet of water frontage that can fit yachts up to 205 feet.

Palm Island is one of Miami Beach’s gated islands that attracts ultra-luxury buyers seeking privacy and security. In March, gaming mogul Richard Scalehorn paid a record $45 million for a waterfront mansion at 40 Palm Ave., making it the most expensive home ever sold on the island.

Rivani has bought and sold a handful of properties this year. In September, the firm sold a commercial condo leased to Michael Schwartz’s Amara building at Perriso Restaurant in Edgewater, Miami, to a Chicago real estate investor for $19.8 million.

In August, his firm paid $37 million to acquire the Lincoln Theater, a historic Art Deco building at 551 Lincoln Road in Miami Beach. That same month, Rivani landed Beverly Hills-based Playboy as Rivani’s anchor tenant at 1691 Michigan Ave., a seven-story, mixed-use building just off Lincoln Road. Playboy plans to move its headquarters to a 20,000-square-foot penthouse in a building in Rivani. Still, Playboy can cancel the contract if the city of Miami Beach refuses to provide $800,000 in concessions.