Chris Burch, the venture capitalist who co-founded the fashion brand Tory Burch, has bought a Miami Beach home in an off-market deal for $12.5 million.
Mr. Burch, who has been a Miami Beach resident for some time, said he plans to tear down the existing house and build a new home on the site to serve as his primary residence. The roughly 1½-acre property has about 170 feet of frontage on the Indian Creek Canal with a dock, and includes the main house and two outbuildings, said Mirce Curkoski of ONE Sotheby’s International, who represented Mr. Burch with colleague Albert Justo.
Mr. Burch, who co-founded clothing company Eagle’s Eye with his brother Robert, went on to launch Tory Burch with his then-wife. After the couple split he founded C. Wonder, which has since been relaunched by new owners after filing for bankruptcy. Mr. Burch said he has a 1600s manor house outside of Paris that he’s in the process of restoring. He also spends time in the Hamptons and in Indonesia, where he owns the Nihiwatu resort.
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The seller was real estate developer Richard Meruelo, who bought the Pine Tree Drive house in 2012 for $8.5 million, according to public records. Mr. Meruelo had planned to demolish the house and had gutted it in preparation, Mr. Curkoski said, adding that the property was not listed.
Mr. Meruelo also owns the lot next door to Mr. Burch’s recent acquisition, records show. He is building a roughly 15,000-square-foot spec house there which is listed for $15 million with his wife Maria Meruelo, an agent at Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, according to the listing. The Meruelos could not be reached for comment.