Robert White Jr. Buys Fort Lauderdale Lot for $13.5M

A tech titan who sold his real estate analytics company for nearly $1 billion bought a waterfront Fort Lauderdale lot.

Property records show Robert M. White Jr., the founder of New York City-based Real Capital Analytics, paid $13.5 million for the lot at 2721 Sea Island Drive in the Seven Isles community. The sellers are Bradley and Seth Cohen.

White founded Real Capital Analytics in 2000 as a data firm that tracks global commercial real estate sales and trends. The company has recorded over $20 trillion of commercial property deals, according to its website. It was acquired by MSCI in August for $950 million.

The Cohens co-founded Deerfield Beach-based Insurance Care Direct, along Luis Silvestre and Arnold Cohen in 2001, according to published reports. Seth Cohen is CEO, according to his LinkedIn page. Bradley Cohen stepped down as COO in 2019.

The half-acre lot was listed for $14 million in January and was advertised as a building opportunity with 283 feet of water frontage and mega yacht dockage.

Tim Elmes with Compass had the listing, and Matt Lill with Corcoran represented White.

The property last sold for $4.5 million in 2020, records show.

White already owns a home nearby. In April of last year, he paid $5.3 million for a waterfront Fort Lauderdale house, and records show he still owns the property.

Fort Lauderdale has seen an uptick in luxury sales, as the pandemic paved the way for wealthy individuals who could work from home to relocate.

This month, the widow of a late Chicago developer sold her waterfront home for $9 million.

Last month, the president of a drone manufacturer and his wife paid $6.8 million for a waterfront Fort Lauderdale home, after selling a Coconut Grove mansion for $19 million several months earlier. Also in February, a Québec real estate guru bought a waterfront spec house for $9 million.

In December, a billionaire car auction magnate paid $15.5 million for a waterfront teardown in Fort Lauderdale.