Real Estate Review: Transfer March 10, 2006
By: Paola Luspa-Abbott

Capponi-Doino, the new alliance

Nightclub promoter and real estate enthusiast Michael Capponi joined forces with restaurateur Tonino Doino, owner of Rosinella Trattoria on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road and downtown Miami, to buy an old home on Miami Beach’s Sunset Island 2. They paid $2.34 million for an eight-bedroom house built in 1979 a block from Biscayne Bay at 2501 Bay Ave. The partners began renovating the house soon after the property went under contract a few months ago, said Capponi, owner of Capponi Group Luxury Properties in Miami. The house looked like new by closing day March 1.

The piece de resistance is coming. Capponi is letting Italian furniture designer Bussandri use the house as a showroom. The Bussandri family, which specializes in period furniture, has a store in the Miami Design District. The 10,700-square-foot home comes with a movie theater, wine cellar, billiards room, gym, a library overlooking the pool, maid’s quarters and a six-car garage. Capponi plans to invite about 400 people to a house party March 25 to launch his newly created company and promote the home. SOL/Sotheby’s International Realty is the exclusive listing agent for the resale of the furnished house at an asking price of $4.98 million. Not bad for a nightclub impresario whose first gig was in high school, handing out fliers to promote Ocean Drive’s former Palace Grill.

Three years ago, he began buying condos, remodeling them and selling for a profit. This is his first time revamping a single-family home and partnering with Doino, whose mother, Rosinella, is the chef at the family-owned restaurants. Will the union last? Highly unlikely. Doino’s next project is a bar and lounge on the second floor of Rosinella 525 Lincoln Road, Capponi said. “His focus is on that. I want to build homes,” he said. Capponi tends to partner with different people on separate projects. He and developer Gregg Covin are renovating the Angler’s Hotel at 634 Washington Ave. for conversion to a condo-hotel. Versace mansion interior designer J. Wallace Tutt III is spearheading the hotel renovation and additions. Permits to start the restoration work are in place. Covin said he plans to open in time for next year’s Super Bowl. The 49 condo-hotel units are selling at an average $1,200 per square foot, said Covin, the principal with Gregg Covin Real Estate Development in Miami. Sixteen units have been sold. The pair used their own money to finance the project so they aren’t facing a lender’s deadline for a sellout, Covin said. Unsold units will go into a hotel rental program. Capponi and Covin also are building the 200-unit Ten Museum Park in downtown Miami. The condo project is sold out and under construction on Biscayne Boulevard at 10th Street. They joined forces with Armin Mattli, owner of the Clinique La Prairie spa and founder of the Swiss.
Perfection and La Prairie cosmetic lines, on one of downtown Miami’s first luxury condo towers in a long time. Capponi’s future projects include building multimillion-dollar Miami Beach homes on Pinetree Drive and North Bay Road. Paola Iuspa-Abbott can be reached at piuspa@alm.com or at (305) 347-6657.