Jules Trump’s Juggernaut Of Luxury
Getting noticed as a fancy condo tower in Sunny Isles is like a Rolls in a sea of Bentleys; there’s more than a few contenders. But Acqualina seems poised to attract new attention as it assembles a monolithic stretch along Collins of four imposing properties.
Meet Jules Trump, 72 (not related to the candidate), whom we snapped last week astride his 51-story Acqualina Ocean Resort and Residences on Collins Ave, equi-distant between South Beach and Ft. Lauderdale. He’s half of the Trump Brothers, South Africans who came to the States in 1974, became successful entrepreneurs in NYC (their fields today include retail, finance, tech, even chemicals and fertilizer), and started buying Florida land.
In recent years, they’ve been busy creating what they matter-of-factly label “The Finest Residences in the World.” The behemoth building behind Jules in the first picture above is just the short one in this rendering of Acqualina's coming portfolio. It has 97 hotel rooms and 179 residences and was built 10 years ago. To its south is the Mansions at Acqualina, 47 stories and 72 units of half to full floors, delivered last fall, priced between $6.9M and $55M, and now sold out. (It would be 61 stories with more normal ceiling heights.)
To its north will be the Estates at Acqualina, twin 51-story towers of 264 units from 2,800 to 13k SF, set to break ground at the end of this year if all clicks, and to deliver in 2020. They will be priced from $3.7M to $65M. Amazingly, over half a billion in sales has already been reserved (with 10% down, 10% due on signing, and 25% when construction begins).
Sunny Isles is full of big deal buildings: Dezer’s Porsche Design and Armani Casa Towers, Regalia, the Chateau Beach Residences, several Jades, a Ritz-Carlton, Turnberry, the Muse, multiple Trump towers, and others. But the physical lineup of four lavish Acqualina towers in their seductive pastel colors will give them striking prominence…
…whether you see them boating by their 1,100 foot shoreline or from their august signage on Collins...
…or perhaps as you pull into their driveways and come upon the regular herd of Roll-Royces and Bentleys—which turns out not to be a house fleet but simply the massive number owned by individual residents.
In the early '80s, Jules and his brother Eddie gained fame for developing 84-acre Williams Island, named for their dad, as an enclave of the wealthy in Aventura—3,900 high-end condos that have attracted the likes of Whitney Houston and NFL coach Jimmy Johnson. They’ve also built the Luxuria in Boca, and Jules tells us they are actively thinking of taking their Acqualina brand to NY and LA.
Jules may be soft-spoken, but his blue suede shoes bespeak a passion to figure out how to up the ante on luxury living and recreation.
Here he points to some of the studied aesthetics of his resort…
Like a couple of its many pools and outdoor conversation settings.
Here he takes a hands-on approach to the chessboard at ocean’s edge.
We also prowled the halls with him…
…checking out the standard refrigerator/freezer, 72 inches across…
…and the sweeping views under 10’6” ceilings in standard units and 18’6” to 35’ heights in penthouses…
…the perfectly outfitted (and vented) humidor room…
…state-of-the-art saunas…or more precisely, a tiered Turkish hammam with special stone that keeps the floor hot…
…classic contemporary lobbies with leather wall fabric and onyx and other exotic stone work…
…custom La Cornue stoves…
…and artwork featuring 24 carat gold with pearl inlay.
Not to mention wraparound terraces in flow-through units that give you not just dead-on ocean views but panoramas of Miami Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and (here) Aventura.
The backyard of the Estates will be a 5.6-acre gated private park made possible because much of the footprint available for the towers was purposely sacrificed to create a dog park, “flow-rider” wave pool for practicing your surfing, soccer field, bocce and basketball courts, lap pool, sculpture gardens, Formula One simulator, and innumerable other divertissements that may save residents and their guests trips to Orlando.
Not to mention swimming pools cantilevered in glass over traffic dozens of stories below that two of Jules' guests the other day bravely tested (without water) at the Mansions, which will be replicated for the tower suites and penthouses of the Estates. Allowing residents to argue that they literally tower over the competition.
