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California couple pays $6.4 million cash for Belleair Shore home

 
A California couple bought this gulffront estate in Belleair Shore on Monday. The home, which was built in 2002, has four bedrooms and 51/2 baths. It features a Swarovski crystal chandelier and 30-foot floor-to-ceiling windows.
A California couple bought this gulffront estate in Belleair Shore on Monday. The home, which was built in 2002, has four bedrooms and 51/2 baths. It features a Swarovski crystal chandelier and 30-foot floor-to-ceiling windows.
Published Jan. 16, 2016

Tampa Bay's luxury market is off to a strong start in 2016 — for the first time in well over a year, a home sale has topped the $5 million mark.

On Monday, a California couple paid $6.4 million — cash — for a gulffront estate in Belleair Shore. Built in 2002 with four bedrooms and 51/2 baths, the home features a Swarovski crystal chandelier, 30-foot floor-to-ceiling windows and a multilevel bar.

"One of the things that made that property different was the engineering that went into it," said Realtor Rick Perry, whose wife, Dania Perry, was the listing agent. "In order to build above base flood elevation, most people put a home on stilts. On this one, the entire first level is concrete from the sand up.''

The sellers were Aditi and Uday Lele; he owns the Wyndham Garden hotel in Clearwater Beach. Originally priced at $7.25 million, the couple's waterfront home moved in a relatively quick 152 days.

"Our beaches have been very active,'' said Dania Perry, a Century 21 agent. "All the big sales have been on the beach, and there's a lot of new construction."

In August 2014, Perry was the selling agent on a Belleair Beach estate purchased for $6.7 million by body builder and fitness coach Joel Marion and his wife. Between then and Monday, no bay area home had sold for more than $4.9 million.

The buyers in the most recent deal had looked in Sarasota, but ultimately decided to buy in the Tampa Bay area "because we're such a great value," Perry said.

Contact Susan Taylor Martin at smartin@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8642. Follow @susanskate.