Michael Capponi Hosts Bill Dean’s Birthday

Photography by Nathan Valentine on March 6th, 2013 in Lifestyle

Miami Beach, FL – March 1, 2013 – Take a historic 2.35 acre property on Pine Tree Drive from 1937, do a $40 million renovation, add that to the new owner’s birthday, and you’ve got reason for an all-out, big scale party. That’s just what went down last Friday. Michael Capponi, chairman of Capponi Construction Group that did the rebuild, and Sarah Arison, Board of Trustees member for the National YoungArts Foundation, hosted a black-tie birthday celebration for William H. Dean, CEO of Washington D.C.-based engineering firm M.C. Dean, at his newly renovated Miami Beach estate: villa Terra Veritatis. What was originally the winter home of retail magnate S.S. Kresge (founder of Kmart), this estate underwent more than $40 million of renovations completed by Capponi Construction Group and Dale Overmyer Architects. The waterfront compound went from a six bedroom, eight bathroom house to having 15 bedrooms, 20 full baths, six half baths, two kitchens, a spa wing, poolside cabanas, a Venetian pool, rooftop deck, the largest water frontage in Miami Beach (670 square feet), a tennis court, volleyball court, four outdoor hot tubs, a cold-plunge pool, three fountains and waterfalls, and seven garage spaces. This called for one of the biggest celebrations of 2013 so far.

Maseratis lined the huge driveway while yachts pulled up to the waterfront dock as everyone made their grand entrances to this black tie affair. Michael Capponi invited Miami Beach Commissioner Deede Weithorn to present the birthday man of honor Bill Dean with a Historic Renovation Proclamation, and vocalist Grace Weber serenaded Dean with a Marilyn Monroe-esque “Happy Birthday.” National YoungArts alumni violinists, cellists, ballerinas, classical guitarists, tap dancers and hip-hop dancers performed throughout the night, and the Miami HEAT’s own DJ Irie provided all the dancing tunes. The estate’s two-story cabana house was transformed into a special SET nightclub pop-up for the night. SET owner Eric Milon gave everyone a sneak peek into the newly designed renovation at SET making its debut on March 15, which had a glass catwalk, color-shifting onyx bar and VIP seating. Over on the grand lawn, PopUpEventsGroup unveiled an architectural glass dome, deemed the sOap bubble, as a VIP lounge. Over 3,400 well-dressed guests came out to celebrate, of which included Prince Khalifa, Prince Saud Bob Zangrillo, Lisa Hochstein, Joey Goldman, Katrina Campins, and Anthony Shriver. The party definitely did the incredible renovation justice as a full-blown birthday fête that left everyone pining over Pine Tree Drive.