MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Editor's note: The above video is from a previous story.
The South Florida house that gangster Al Capone owned for nearly two decades, and died in, is facing demolition plans.
The Miami Herald reported Thursday that the new owners of the nine-bedroom, Miami Beach house plan to demolish it after buying it for $10.75 million this summer.
In 2018, the Herald reported the home went on the market for $15 million.
One of the owners, developer Todd Glaser, told the Herald the home, which is about three feet below sea level, has flood damage and standing water underneath it.
“The house is a piece of crap,” Glaser told The Herald. “It’s a disgrace to Miami Beach.”
According to the Herald, in 1929 Capone used the Miami Beach home to plan the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre — where seven rival gangsters were killed by hitmen dressed as police. He died in the home in 1947 from a heart attack.
Glaser tells the Herald making the home a historic place would make Plam Island "a tourist trap." The subject of historic designation for Capone's house is up before the city's land use boards in September.
“They want to glorify this guy? I knocked down Jeffrey Epstein’s house. Palm Beach was begging me to knock his house down,” Glaser told the Herald. “I’m doing good for the community.”
Still, Glaser tells the Herald he faces opposition from people living in Miami Beach, preservationists and Miami Beach city leaders.
If the house is demolished, the new owners plan to build a two-story modern spec home with 8 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, a Jacuzzi, spa and sauna.