Ultra-luxury spec home priced at $21 million hits the market on Davis Islands
By Ashley Gurbal Kritzer
Tampa Bay Business Journal
Published: Jan 18, 2024

Joel Kassewitz sees the waterfront Davis Islands mansion he developed as more than a single real estate play: It’s a chance to create a new upper echelon of luxury homes in Tampa.

Kassewitz, who is married to Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-owner Darcie Glazer Kassewitz, officially listed the home at 96 Martinique Ave. for sale on Thursday priced at $21 million. If it sells for the full asking price, the price per square foot will be over $2,200 — a threshold that luxury home sales in Tampa rarely cross. That level of pricing is more commonly seen in Miami or Palm Beach, where Kassewitz and his family lived until they moved to Tampa in 2015.

In his view, the gap between Tampa and South Florida’s luxury home prices is the point.

“I really saw an opportunity here,” Kassewitz told the Tampa Bay Business Journal, “because we don’t have the ultra-high luxury homes that are more commonplace in Miami and Palm Beach.”

Kassewitz and his wife bought homes at 94 and 96 Martinique Ave. in 2019 and razed both. They initially considered building their own home on those two properties but purchased another property on Davis Islands in 2021. A longtime observer of luxury real estate — Kassewitz graduated from college in 1987 and bought his first home in Miami at 24, selling it a few years later to buy a waterfront property in South Beach — he saw an opportunity on Martinique Avenue, one of Tampa’s most exclusive addresses.

“We’re in the early innings of Tampa becoming a peer to Miami or Palm Beach,” he said. “I spent 10 years in Palm Beach. It was nothing like it is now when I moved there in 2004, and 20 years later, it’s like Wall Street South. The way I see it, Tampa is right behind them.”

He began consulting with Jennifer Zales of Coldwell Banker Realty. The Kassewitzes first hired Zales to market their Avila home for sale; with a background in development and construction, she also saw a unique opportunity on Martinique Avenue.

Zales has spent the last two years overseeing the development of 96 Martinique Ave., from reconfiguring 94 and 96 Martinique Ave. to their original layout of three lots to coordinating the design and construction. One similar project she’s worked on at 20 Sandpiper Road is among the most expensive homes sold in Tampa in 2023.

Zales is co-listing the home for sale with Toni Everett of Toni Everett Co.

The Martinique home, built by Boss and Mennie Luxury Home Builders, features modern coastal-style architecture. It’s set so close to the water that Kassewitz says it “feels like you’re on a yacht.” The rooftop has a fourth-story terrace for sweeping views of Tampa Bay.

It’s constructed to withstand heavy storm surge and hurricane-strength winds, built on pilings and elevated for safety. The first floor of living space is 14 feet off the ground. The ground floor, with room to store more than 10 vehicles, has breakaway walls to allow water to flow through instead of crumbling while resisting flood water. When Hurricane Ian devastated Southwest Florida in 2022, that type of construction saved many of the region’s luxury homes.

Zales, who was Coldwell Banker Realty’s top-producing agent for gross sales in Florida and No. 5 in the U.S. in 2022, said the home is tapping into a demand she sees routinely, from both local buyers and those from out-of-state. She said 96 Martinique Ave. is the latest evolution of a trend that’s been underway on Davis Islands for years.

“It started with Jeter, but the fact is, we have houses being built right now that are even higher value than this,” she said. “So the top of the market on Davis Islands is significantly higher from private owners building their own private residences.” vBaseball legend Derek Jeter combined three lots on Davis Islands to build a 22,000-square-foot mansion in 2011. In 2022, he sold the home to a buyer who plans to demolish it and build a 30,000-square-foot home on the site.

Kassewitz said he’s encouraged by the other high-end homes under construction on Davis Islands. As for Martinique Avenue, he owns two other lots there and says he doesn’t have plans for them yet. He’s bullish on Tampa, especially Davis Islands, and is looking to buy more waterfront real estate there.

“I think there’s a new era here on the island,” he said.