Inside a $60 million beachfront mansion with subterranean secrets and Italian flair

The owner of a beachfront mansion in Delray Beach, Florida, is looking to shatter a local price record with a home that delivers old-school Italian flair above ground and hidden personality below.

While the upper levels are adorned with 300 stone-carved columns, vaulted ceilings and even a fresco painted in Florence, Italy, the home’s subterranean space is packed with modern luxuries including a super car gallery, glowing tequila bar and a steel vault packed with piles of cash.

The two distinct design themes are wrapped in a limestone-clad residence located on the town’s ultra-high-end South Ocean Boulevard. The 23,000-plus square-foot home is called Mar Pietra, Italian for “sea stone.”

“So much stone went into this house, I thought it was appropriate,” owner Massimo Musa told CNBC.

Musa founded and sold several companies in the eye-care industry. He also develops real estate and built Mar Pietra with this now ex-wife.

The passion project took five years to complete and employed dozens of craftsmen, painters and sculptors, many of them from Italy. Tons of limestone were shipped here from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula; hand-carved marble made the journey from Verona, Italy; and massive panels of cedar arrived from Colombia.

According to the listing, the mega home sits on 100 feet of beachfront. There is a main residence and guest house and all together nine bedrooms, 12 full baths and seven half baths. The climate-controlled subterranean garage adds 4,000 more square feet, with even more space added via covered areas such as a luxurious loggia that houses another kitchen, bar, lounge and dining area.

The massive estate is five times the size of the average Delray Beach home sold during the first quarter, and its eight-figure price tag is more than 18 times the area’s almost $3.3 million average sales price for a luxury home, according to the Elliman Report. The report defines luxury homes as the top 10% of sales.

The highest sale price ever achieved in Delray Beach was $34 million for a listing also located on South Ocean Boulevard that sold in 2021. According to public records, the top sale price per square foot was also recorded in 2021, at just under $2,600 per square foot. Mar Pietra’s list price would put it right in line with that value metric.

The trophy home’s massive footprint and its giant oceanfront lawn are a rare sight on this strip of beach in Palm Beach County. According to Musa, that is because of the lot’s unique zoning history.

Public records show he bought the lot, along with the lot across the street on the Intracoastal Waterway, for $9 million back in in 2002. At the time, the oceanfront parcel had a hotel on it, which means the land was under hotel zoning regulations. Musa, who immigrated to the U.S. from Italy, tore down the old building so he could build a beachfront family home that paid homage to his home country.

Even after the hotel’s demolition, Musa says, the land’s hotel zoning remained intact. That allowed him to build a home with a larger footprint and smaller setbacks. Plus, the residence could extend closer to the shoreline than current residential zoning typically allows.

Also grandfathered in was a portion of beachfront lot that was cleared decades ago by the hotel’s owners, something Musa told CNBC current regulation would never allow. That clearing is now a lush evergreen lawn, made of artificial grass, that rolls across the back of his one-acre property where it meets the natural vegetation on the sandy shoreline.

The home’s position 21 feet above sea level and its sheer size is impressive, but like many listings at this price point, it is not always easy to find a buyer. While the estate has been on and off the market since December 2021, its $60 million price tag holds steady. It is currently offered by South Florida listing agent Senada Adzem of Douglas Elliman.

“This trophy estate stands as one of South Florida’s finest bespoke luxury properties, designed to evoke timeless elegance,” Adzem told CNBC.

According to the Elliman Report, luxury single-family home inventory in the first quarter rose more than 12% over the previous year, and the average sales price of a luxury single-family home in Delray Beach dropped more than 33%.

Despite data that suggests the market may be experiencing some headwinds, Adzem remains confident in the list price and South Florida’s high-end real estate market.

“The ultra-luxury real estate market will continue to prosper,” she said. “Wealthy clients love Palm Beach County, valuing oceanfront locations, privacy and uniqueness above all else.”

To support that claim, Adzem points just 400 meters down the street to a sale in Highland Beach, where just this May an oceanfront home traded for $50 million, or more than $2,800 per square foot. On this coastline, Mar Pietra could actually be considered a relative bargain. A nearby smaller home, also on South Ocean Boulevard, recently listed for $74 million, or about $5,100 a square foot.

According to Adzem, Mar Pietra commands a premium in part for its quality of construction and the property’s rare zoning allowances, which she called priceless.

“These generous zoning allowances enabled our client to create a truly unique property that would otherwise be impossible,” she said.

It is hard to imagine a potential buyer taking issue with the estate for being too small, but Adzem said in this part of Florida, it is not out of the question. So, the real estate broker and her client are ready to offer a solution.

“What’s really unique about the home is the fact that my client is willing to sell it with the Intracoastal Waterway lot that would create the only ocean-to-intracoastal compound in Delray Beach, Florida.”

The two-lot deal, Adzem said, would deliver enough land to develop another waterfront house that could include a rare spot on the Intracoastal Waterway to dock a mega yacht. As for the price tag to buy the full package deal, Adzem said she would only discuss that number with prospective buyers.

The home’s driveway passes through a grand archway called a porte-cochere that leads to a circular motor court. Inside the limestone structure is a two-story guesthouse spanning more than 2,700 square feet with three bedrooms, three full baths and two half baths.

Beyond the circular motor court is a giant stone staircase that ascends to the main residence.

Through the arches at the top of the stairway is a central open-air courtyard. Musa says the design was inspired by Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami.

The courtyard leads to the home’s main entrance, where a butterfly staircase reigns over a double-height foyer.

The home’s library spans two levels with a spiral staircase that rises up to the second floor — and the room delivers much more than books.

Musa says the cedar-wrapped room’s design was inspired by the Vanderbilt estate, while the fresco on the ceiling takes inspiration from the Sistine Chapel. The mural, Adzem told CNBC, was painted in Florence, Italy, shipped to Florida and affixed to the ceiling, where the artist made the final finishing touches.

The lower level of the library includes an onyx bar and a lounge area. On the upper level, windows around the home office are filled with views of the pool and ocean.

The primary suite is also on the second floor, with views from every window.

The suite’s two baths feature contemporary designs, imported marbles and walk-in closets. The white marble bath flows seamlessly into a boutique-style, walk-in wardrobe with a cabinet island, jewelry showcase and separate shoe closet.

Deep below the dune that Mar Pietra is perched upon is a subterranean lair with a very different design story. It is more modern down there and packed with contemporary luxuries.

The parking area leads to a lounge designed for people who like to admire their rides. A wall of curved glass separates the lounge from the garage and delivers a great view of the parked supercars. The steel vault on the side wall is an art piece with a functioning door and stacks of money inside.

The lower level also includes a tequila-only bar wrapped in quartzite. After dark, lights embedded in the stone can ignite the surfaces with a milky-white glow.

There is also a state-of-the-art theater, with a floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall electronic screen, and it is one of the home’s two cinemas.