A pink mansion once owned by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was demolished today in Miami Beach.
The house was razed to make room for a more contemporary home on waterfront property, the owner, Chicken Kitchen founder Christian de Berdouare, told ABC News today.
De Berdouare, who owns two other properties on the same street, plans to build a modern mansion that will include up to eight bedrooms, a movie theater and at least one pool, he said. The property features 175 feet of waterfront on Miami’s Biscayne Bay, perfect to house a yacht, he said.
De Berdouare gave a simple reason for why he bought the aging, fire-damaged home in May 2014 for about $9 million from a private owner.
“I’m an entrepreneur,” the real estate mogul said, adding that he expects the property value to skyrocket up to $40 million once construction on the new home is complete.
Escobar bought the home in his own name, a 1982 deed for the property shows. He allegedly showed up to the closing with a bag full of cash, De Berdouare said.
“It was before people knew his name” he told ABC News.
The government seized the property in 1987 and it was purchase by a private owner in 1990, the Associated Press reported. De Berdouare said he hired professional treasure hunters to comb through the structure for traces of when it was owned by Escobar.
There was “nothing remarkable” worth saving in the home’s original structure, De Berdouare said, adding that he was glad to erase a part of Miami’s “dark history.”
“I want nothing to do with someone like him,” the 59-year-old said of the home, calling it “the house of the devil.”
U.S. authorities said it’s unclear whether Escobar ever lived in the house and that his men likely used it as a hideout, AP reported.
De Berdouare, who currently lives in one of his other properties on the ritzy North Bay Road, has not decided whether he will use the home for his own family or sell it to an interested buyer.
“Sometimes people will make me an offer I can’t refuse,” he said.
Escobar is known as one of the world’s most-feared drug lords and played an integral role in facilitating the drug wars that made Miami notorious for violence. He was killed in a shootout with Colombian National Police in 1993.