Former Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine has paid $13m (€11.8m) for the Miami waterfront home once owned by singer Enrique Iglesias.
The Irish Formula 1 star bought the seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom mansion which sits on a massive site on Miami’s Sunset Island. It has its own pier, a three-car garage and swimming pool.
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It also has a summer kitchen, interior courtyard and fountain and a guest house with a rooftop jacuzzi and onyx wet bar.
But the Conlig, Co Down, driver has no intention of leaving his home on the Bahamian island of Exuma to live in Miami.
He plans to knock the house down.
Earlier this year Irvine sold a $28m (€25.4m) house on Miami’s South Beach he had bought for $5m. Though the house had history, having been home to Jay-Z, Drake and Beyoncé, Irvine demolished it to make way for a new build.
He also bought a house once owned by singer Ricky Martin, spending just over $3m. It too sold for a massive profit.
The plan this time is the same – knock and build.
The Iglesias house was originally on the market for $25m four years ago, but it had failed to sell. Irvine, once the owner of the Cocoon bar off Grafton Street in Dublin, retired from racing in 2002 but had already moved into the property business.
He has interests now in Miami, New York, the Bahamas and Northern Ireland.
Rich Lists place his wealth at more then $100m.
He is a regular visitor to Dublin where he still has property and along with Eddie Jordan recently attended the funeral in Blackrock, Co Dublin, of his long-time friend Dave Marren.
Irvine drove in Formula One for 10 seasons before retiring in 2002 having raced for Jordan, Ferrari and Jaguar.
Since then he has concentrated on the property empire he has been building for decades.
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