Melvin’s Gabe Plotkin Was Expanding His $44 Million Miami Beachfront Mansion When His Hedge Fund Blew Up

In what may be the biggest ever winner in the “bad timing” awards, The Real Deal reports that Gabe Plotkin was last seen proposing to knock down one of the Miami Beach homes he purchased last year and expand his waterfront mansion.

According to the RealDeal, “Plotkin paid $44 million for the two adjacent homes at 6342 and 6360 North Bay Road in November,” The Real Deal revealed last year.

Now, he’s planning to knock down the 1935 house that he bought for $12 million and replace it with a lighted tennis court.”

There’s just one problem: Plotkin’s $13 billion Melvin Capital, or rather Melvin Half Capital, just lost $7 billion, or 53% of his capital, to a bunch of teenagers in under a week. And despite a $2.75 billion rescue financing from Citadel and Point72 (which is supposedly already underwater), the fund is now facing a deluge of redemption requests which will almost certainly end Plotkin’s career.

So does he really want to be spending millions on a “tennis court expansion” for his Miami beachfront mansion just as he is facing with a historic collapse and perhaps expensive legal action?

We’ll find out soon: Plotkin’s attorney is expected to go before the Miami Beach Design Review Board next week. Plans filed with the city show that Plotkin plans to keep the mansion at 6360 North Bay Road and replace the waterfront house next door with amenity courts, a new 1,316-square-foot cabana, a children’s playground and open space, according to TRD.

Plotkin is also seeking variance requests related to the light poles for the tennis court, side setbacks and the construction of a storage area.

One thing is certain: if Plotkin hopes to endear himself to the common man and pass off as “just one of the ordinary folks”, he may have an uphill battle: his new neighbors include billionaire hedge fund manager Dan Loeb, Cindy Crawford and Rande Gerber, and Karlie Kloss and Josh Kushner.