Former Orlando City owner sells Isleworth mansion for $32 million

The most expensive home sale ever in the Orlando area just closed for $32 million for the property — $35 million if you include the furnishings and art.

The home is the 25,319-square-foot estate of former Orlando City soccer club owner Flavio Augusto da Silva and his wife, Luciana.

According to public records, da Silva is the signatory agent for the seller, DSF Real Estate, a Cayman Islands company.

The buyer is SOZO Real Estate, a Florida corporation created in September 2022 with a principal address in Miami. The president of the corporation is listed as Henrique M. Vorcaro, who has a real estate background in Brazil.

Monica Lochmandy of Isleworth Realty closed the record-setting sale for the home on Blanche Cove Drive in the exclusive Isleworth Golf & Country Club. The Buyers were represented by Jennifer Olmeda with WRA Real Estate Solutions.

“Estates of this magnitude are a rarity in Central Florida,” Lochmandy said. “Our relationships in the market were an essential key not only in initiating the transaction but also in walking it through to fruition.”

The da Silvas bought the land on Lake Blanche for $2.6 million in March 2015 and began building the home using the expertise of designer Nasrallah Architectural Group, Marc-Michaels Interior Design and builder Akers Custom Homes.

“As with all lakefront homes in Isleworth, they are all very special and unique,” said Mark Nasrallah, CEO of Nasrallah Architectural Group, Inc. “This particular home has a southern orientation that allowed us to really open up the house and take full advantage of the view.”

When da Silva began building the home in 2016, GrowthSpotter reported the home was going to sit on 3.2 acres and would include an indoor basketball court, bowling alley, and grass soccer pitch.

It has an art deco style and Nasrallah said the design is something classical you might see on the Rhode Island coast, not necessarily in Central Florida.

“We call these century homes and that means they’ll be there 100 years from now,” he said. “We wanted to create something that would serve the family for generations to come.”

The approach is impressive with a multi-part driveway surrounding a cross-shaped pool with multiple fountains. The front of the home has several imposing columns.

The interior is more contemporary and contains a lot of wood and glass, including a glass, metal, and stone staircase with colorful accent lighting.

It took four years to build and includes six bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms, including a main floor primary suite. The other bedrooms are on the upper floor.

Broker Shirlei DeVito, who worked with the da Silvas on the land transaction, said the family had intended for it to be their forever home. “Luciana’s vision was to have plenty of space for homeschooling to attend the needs of their world-traveling family,” she told GrowthSpotter. “Every square inch of the home was designed to accommodate and be used by the family, and to accommodate their lifestyle which was initially designed to be their forever home.”

There are multiple kitchens with lots of space for entertaining, including a lower-level area with a bowling alley, basketball court, card room, plush theater room, video arcade, and a huge infinity pool and spa building. The garage parks seven cars.

At the time, it was the largest house Nasrallah had ever designed. A current project is bigger.

When asked about the record-setting price, Nasrallah said it was the first time a property has sold for what it is actually worth.

“Usually, when you deal with these types of homes, you may spend $20 million building it, but then it sells for $12 million,” he told GrowthSpotter.

Nasrallah said he had no idea the da Silvas were planning to sell the house.

The couple sold another Isleworth house in February last year. This was a 10,200-square-foot home the da Silvas bought in 2009.

At the time, the da Silvas has already moved into the Blanche Cove Drive home.

This sale topples the previous record-settling sales in the area.

The previous record was a $15.3 million sale in May 2022 for a home on Lake Butler. Nasrallah told GrowthSpotter he heard there were multiple bidders for the trophy estate, including one of his clients who is designing a home in Isleworth.

Central Florida’s real estate market has seen high demand and low inventory in the last 12 months; however the area’s luxury market is at an all-time high, with a record number of single family home sales above $5 million in 2021 that was matched in 2022.

“For Central Florida standards, that [$32 million number] is huge. In South Florida, those numbers are a little bit more common,” said Brian Teach with Coldwell Banker Realty who also works in the Miami and Ft. Lauderdale markets. “For Central Florida, that’s massive.”

Teach recently sold a home on Via Tuscany in Winter Park for a recorded amount of $5.5 million and a total amount of $5.7 million.

Teach said high numbers like this could impact the market.

“It must have been a real special property to pull that kind of number, but it does show you that buyers have confidence investing that type of money in our area,” he said. “I think Orlando has a lot of room to grow.”

Da Silva bought the Orlando City soccer team to Orlando in 2014 and financed the construction of Exploria Stadium.

He sold the team and stadium in May 2021 to the Wilf family, owner of the Minnesota Vikings.

GrowthSpotter editor Laura Kinsler and reporter Dustin Wyatt contributed to this report. This story was updated with comments from the listing broker.

Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com or (407) 420-6261, or tweet me at @byLauraKinsler. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.