A private, three-hole golf course, an elevated infinity pool which alone costs $1 million and air-conditioned living space encompassing 26,000 square feet – more than ten times the size of the average, single-family home: The extravagant $50 million “G House” is “one of the largest, new construction waterfront homes in Miami Dade — if not the largest,” according to its developer.

But G House isn’t clustered among the typical billionaire mega mansions of Star Island or Indian Creek. It’s rising in suburban Palmetto Bay, on a waterfront plot along south Biscayne Bay considered so vulnerable to flooding and hurricane-induced storm surge that the village government would rather no one build there.

But developer Manny Angelo Varas, owner and CEO of MV Group USA, is confident that once G House is completed, it’ll be a “totally flood-proof bunker.” It’s designed, he said, to survive both Cat 5 winds and once-a-century floods.

At G House, about 30 stairway steps (or a quick ride in a glass elevator) take you to the required main floor elevation of 17 feet, the minimum height set by federal and local regulations for this coastal swath of southern Miami-Dade County.

That places the ultra-luxury mansion just 0.1 feet above the highest storm surge ever recorded in the county – right in this location – when Hurricane Andrew swept barracudas and other assorted fish into second floors, filled bedroom closets with crabs, and lobbed a 105-foot steel research vessel onto a private estate.

In the 33 years since, growing fossil fuel emissions have continued to warm the planet, threatening ever more homes and lives in Florida, the state already most at risk of climate change. Storms are hitting harder, flooding is becoming part of life here. Regulators now categorize the south Biscayne Bay coast as having a one-in-four chance of flooding from a storm surge within 30 years.

Not building in harm’s way is one way to go about reducing flood risks. But Varas says working with ultra-wealthy clients – Jennifer Lopez, the rappers Lil Wayne and Rick Ross and the parents of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are among those he names – gives him a generous budget to be “two steps ahead” of South Florida’s climate threats.

“I’m here saying there’s a lot of things that can be done about it, and it takes everyone working together,” he said, walking past peacocks perched around the sprawling construction site.

Eventually, he said, the less economically privileged might be able to adapt with similar innovations and standards, beginning with seeing the landscape — both natural and engineered — as part of the solution to the rising threats of flood in South Florida low-lying coastal zones.

Elevation is one answer

Because the G House project, visible to commuters off Old Cutler Road, sits in what’s classified as a Coastal High Hazard Area, it had to be built much like new construction in the Florida Keys — literally high atop heavy pilings.

But most of Varas’ billionaire clients find the stilt house look unappealing, so the uninsurable ground floor is wrapped with what are known as “breakaway walls.” They’re designed to give into pressure from a storm surge that can then flow through and around the pilings without sweeping the house away. Many high-end Keys homes also use similar designs.

To deal with extreme wind exposure, most of the other walls were built on-site, using liquid concrete that was poured into forms. Typically used for commercial construction, it’s more expensive, but more wind-resistant than the pre-fabricated concrete blocks laid with mortar used in most South Florida home projects.

Steel tendons that are pulled taut to further compress and harden the dried concrete allowed for the outdoor space to be shaded by 30-feet long overhangs. That allowed the architects of Studio Khora, a firm with offices in Miami and other South Florida cities, to design without columns that would disrupt the view of Biscayne Bay, glittering just beyond the infinity pool.

Building for climate change includes an expansive landscaping plan. For storm surge and rising waters from Biscayne Bay, the dense roots and tangled canopies of roughly 20,000 square feet of mangroves will reduce the height and energy of surges. And for heavy rains, the little peaks and valleys of the three-hole golf course will not only provide challenges to players, but also are designed to help retain and absorb flooding.

Investment in adaptation pays off

That $50 million figure includes not just the mansion but the land and all the surrounding accouterments. Spending that much wasn’t necessary, of course, and Varas concedes some of the features could have been downgraded. Instead of turning seven surrounding acres into a private golf course, for example, a run-of-the-mill, subsurface stormwater tank would have sufficed to meet stipulations that new developments cannot intensify flooding on neighboring properties.

But the fairways add to the aesthetics, he said, as does an 80-feet long water feature that cascades down the breakaway walls into a succession of three ponds in front of the entrance. The nearly 17-foot-high wall “that could be assumed as an eyesore is really part of the beauty of it.”

Varas said he enjoys the challenge of adding features that are flood and hurricane-proof and, at the same time, aesthetically pleasing. Most of his clients, however, don’t even think about the risks of living on the coast until he brings it up. What convinces them to make the investment, he said, is that it simply pays off.

“Create sustainable items, but don’t look at them as just sustainable. Look at them as the added value that you’re creating,” he said. “That’s going to increase the property value while protecting you against a 100-year storm.”

One example he uses when he speaks to his clients is Casa Costanera, a new development in Coral Gables he initially intended as his own family residence. One of Cocoplum’s first waterfront homes with a private, 130-feet sea wall and other features that made it more flood and hurricane resistant, it sold for $2,500 a square foot in 2021, more than double the average price at the time.

Similarly, when MV Group was contracted to refurbish a $15-million property in Coral Gables’ Journey’s End neighborhood, the owners later sold it to Jeff Bezos’ parents for $44 million, making a profit of almost $20 million, he said.

“It’s not a cost, it’s a financial decision,” he said.

He obviously made a similar case to the owners of G House, Rene Gonzales, according to property records. Varas would only say that Gonzales — the G in G House — was an entrepreneur who did not want to speak publicly about the house and “wants to keep a low- profile.”

Is this the new benchmark?

Varas believes that high-end homes like G House can show how to win a “game of chess” against climate change. He says he has used the big budgets to create innovative designs and help push through adaptations to building codes “to then create maybe new standards that would trickle down and make the average home — the non-billionaire home — safer as well.”

For G House, his vision was to “really create a benchmark for the city.” He hopes Palmetto Bay can point to the mansion and say “this is who we are.”

While Palmetto Bay’s building department does view G House as an example of a flood-proof home, the village wonders whether it could be a blueprint for other community members.

“I don’t know how many people can afford that,” the village’s building official, Dean Klements, said. And while village manager Nick Marano said he has no professional opinion on whether G House was good or bad, Palmetto Bay’s government “wouldn’t want to show that off to anyone as something like we think this is great.”

Instead of building right on the coast, Marano said, the village is trying to preserve land to help protect against flooding. “The village is very, very much aware of our vulnerability to storms, especially something as significant as Andrew or even Irma, and we’re taking active steps to mitigate against that,” he said.

Palmetto Bay’s new resilience action plan, approved unanimously earlier this week, seeks to not having new development or increasing population density and to look into policies and incentives that will “guide new development away from at risk areas”, which includes all properties right along the coast.

Not developing in highest-risk areas is the safest option. Yet since Hurricane Andrew, Miami Dade’s population has exploded by 40 percent. More real estate has been built in harm’s way, with some of the most expensive developments located in the most exposed areas. That would be much of the region’s waterfront real estate.

If Hurricane Andrew were to strike the same path today, the losses would be nearly three times higher than in 1992, according to an analysis by Swiss Re, one of the world’s leading reinsurance companies.

But G House is just one example in Palmetto Bay of how hard it is to discourage development in coastal areas that buyers still find alluring.

Last month, the village had to agree to a new mall, about 450 new housing units, a 5-story fitness center, and a hotel with 120 rooms. The project is intended to go up at the former Burger King headquarters, which also was ravaged by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The village originally opposed the development, but was forced to settle when the Atlanta-based investment firm that owns the land filed a claim seeking $15 million under the Bert Harris Act, which protects land owners from actions that would devalue or limit their vested rights.

As part of the settlement, however, 35 acres will be preserved as green space. Thirteen of those, including mangroves, Marano said, “are directly fronting on the bay, so that’s certainly going to help with storm resiliency.” The other 22 acres are along Old Cutler Road, which will help alleviate flooding from rains.

Public officials and developers might not always agree on how to handle the growing threats of climate change, but in the end, they’re trying to answer the same question. “If you live in Florida, it’s inevitable that a storm is going to hit you,” Varas said. “The question is: how are you prepared for it?”

This climate report is funded by Florida International University, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the David and Christina Martin Family Foundation in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald retains editorial control of all content.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Cocoplum as part of Coconut Grove. It is a gated community in Coral Gables.

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$50 million ‘flood proof bunker’ rises on Biscayne Bay. Is mansion a model for the future?

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