Developer plans to demolish Al Capone’s South Florida home

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — A South Florida developer is planning to demolish the home once owned by notorious gangster Al Capone.

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Developer Todd Michael Glaser and his partner, Nelson Gonzalez, an investor and senior vice president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM, plan to tear down the single-family home residence on Palm Island in Miami Beach, Glaser told the Miami Herald.

Glaser and Gonzalez are buying the home for $10.75 million, the newspaper reported.

The announcement comes a week after Capone’s three granddaughters announced an upcoming auction, where 174 items from the personal collection of “Public Enemy No. 1″ will be sold in October, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Many of the items were at the Palm Island home when Capone died there on Jan. 25, 1947.

“The house is a piece of crap,” Glaser told the Herald, noting the home had flood damage and still water beneath the two-story structure. “It’s a disgrace to Miami Beach.”

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According to Miami-Dade County online property records, the home at 93 Palm Ave. was built in 1922. It has nine bedrooms, six bathrooms and two half-bathrooms, property records show. The 6,077-square-foot residence sits on a 30,000-square-foot lot, according to property records.

The assessed value of the home in 2021 is $7,635,081, records show.

Capone bought the house for $40,000 in 1928, the Herald reported. Glaser and Gonzalez plan to build an eight-bedroom, eight-bathroom home in its place, the newspaper reported. The new home will also include a Jacuzzi, spa and sauna, according to the Herald.

Glaser said he faces opposition from Miami Beach residents, preservationists and Miami Beach city officials, the newspaper reported. Glaser added that the home was placed on the upcoming agenda in September for a historic designation.

“They want to glorify this guy? I knocked down Jeffrey Epstein’s house. Palm Beach was begging me to knock his house down,” Glaser told the newspaper. “I’m doing good for the community.”

Capone was serving an 11-year sentence at Alcatraz after his conviction for tax evasion in 1934. Five years later he was released. He returned to his Miami Beach residence, where he had planned the infamous St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in 1929, and lived there until his death.

Read more about the home here.

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