Inside the Beckhams' new £60m mega-mansion in Miami

As you might expect, given the mansion’s £60million price tag, there are luxuries such as a gym, home cinema and an infinity pool. In addition there is a rooftop lounge, a spa with a massage room, a waterfront deck and mooring for a yacht, along with nine bedrooms and 13 bathrooms. Neighbours will include the pop stars Shakira and Bee Gee Barry Gibb.

Little wonder that the Beckhams reportedly instantly fell in love with this newly-built ‘modern waterfront masterpiece’ in Miami, Florida. The usually authoritative ‘Real Deal’ property website said this week that David and Victoria are the buyers of the spectacular mansion, and the deal is ‘pending’.

A local property source says: ‘They have put in an offer and it has been accepted. The plan is they will move in early next year.’

If all goes according to plan – and there’s some debate about how advanced the purchase is, as friends of the couple say they have not ‘at this point’ bought the house – this Miami mansion will be the biggest asset in the Beckhams’ already significant property portfolio which comprises a £31million townhouse in London’s Holland Park; a £12million Cotswolds country base and a spacious five-bed Miami apartment, bought for around £18million in 2020.

Going from a Miami apartment – albeit one in a stunning Zaha Hadid-designed building, adorned with balconies looking out on to picturesque views – to this mega mansion on the waterfront would certainly be a huge upgrade for the Beckhams.

And in a world where real estate is the ultimate arbiter of social status, investing in an American ‘Beckingham Palace’ like this would announce that the couple have really arrived in the city. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that such a move up the property ladder would also take the Beckhams into the social stratosphere occupied by their flashy in-laws, the billionaire Peltzes.

Indeed, corporate raider Nelson Peltz, the doting daddy of Brooklyn’s wife Nicola, has quite a spread just a short helicopter hop away from Miami in Palm Beach.

His home – where he hosted the Beckhams for Brooklyn and Nicola’s 2022 wedding – is worth £75million and has direct waterfront access and 27 bedrooms.

Relations between the two families have been awkward at times, so it’s interesting to think that the Beckhams may be trying to keep up with the Peltzes.

There had been some reports of social discomfort in the run-up to the wedding as it dawned on the Beckhams that their hosts had more social clout and wealth than they did.

For their part, the Peltzes – who are blessed with blue-chip security – were apparently baffled when the Beckhams’ minders asked for a tour of the house before a pre-wedding lunch.

Happily, all are now good friends but there’s no doubt a grand new home would be a reminder to the Peltzes that they aren’t the only players in town.

David’s social status, of course, has been boosted by being co-owner of the soccer team Inter Miami. Celebrity fans such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Prince Harry, who have watched the team and its star player Lionel Messi, are proof the venture is paying off, launching the Beckhams into a new powerful milieu.

Long-time celebrity columnist Jose Lambiet, who has lived in Miami since 1996, said: ‘I don’t think people necessarily remember that David Beckham was a football player. They now think of him as a society guy, and the ownership of the soccer team has made him a stalwart in South Florida. Miami is a place where he and Victoria can be comfortable because people are used to famous faces here – there are hundreds of celebrities.’ As ever with Brand Beckham, success for one half of the couple means success for the other. A source close to the deal said last week: ‘I’m told the whole family have been to see it and everyone loves it.

‘Although it’s David who has the work connection in Miami, the impression from the estate agents is that Victoria has been pushing for the move.

‘What we hear is she wants to have a sort of salon there where she can gather interesting famous and wealthy people. It’s going to be a social scene but the idea is she can turbo-charge her fashion and make-up brands by juicing those links.

‘It seems she wants to be the Queen of Miami and to lean into all the celebrity links which come from the football club.’

The source adds that Victoria is keen to meet fellow Miami resident Lauren Sanchez, the fiancee of billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

This, it seems, is an introduction easily achievable through Sanchez’s close friend Kim Kardashian, who Victoria already knows via Inter Miami, as Kim’s young son with Kanye West, Saint, is ‘soccer crazy’ and has watched games, once running on to the pitch holding Messi’s hand.

The source says: ‘Victoria loved their time in LA [when David was playing for LA Galaxy between 2007 and 2012] and misses the way she is respected as a designer in America. America’s where the fashion scene is less snobbish than in Europe, where she is never going to be accepted no matter how many shows she puts on in Paris Fashion Week.’

Jose Lambiet agrees. He says: ‘Miami has been a fashion capital for decades and Victoria will be a welcome addition.’ Significantly, there’s no income tax in Florida, unlike most American states, so many celebrities are moving there. Some of the hard graft of making social links in Miami has been completed already: David is best friends with singer Marc Anthony – formerly married to Jennifer Lopez – who lives in Miami and performed at Brooklyn Beckham’s wedding.

Victoria has hung out with musicians Pharrell Williams and DJ Khaled in the city, and is also on good terms with restaurateur David Grutman, his Brazilian model wife Isabela and her friend, the supermodel Gisele Bundchen.

Lesley Abravanel, another observer of Miami society, says the city’s social set is ‘non-plussed’ about the Beckhams and the fuss which follows them globally. The writer explains: ‘They’ve been here for a while and fit into the landscape. They are not a big deal at all – very low key, very low

profile. The big talk is that the neighbours think their new purchase might increase their property values.’ Regardless, Victoria has previously said that she ‘loves’ the city and spent her 47th birthday there, exclaiming: ‘This place is everything!’

As well as business, family is also playing its part in the Beckhams putting down more extensive links in Florida. While the plan seems to be to keep on dividing their time between the US and UK, a large family base would be well utilised by the jet-setting family. Brooklyn, 25, is living in LA with wife Nicola, who is there pursuing her dream of an acting career, while he has just launched his Cloud 23 hot sauce business.

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Youngest son Cruz, 19, is also mostly based in Los Angeles where he’s working on a musical career, while Romeo, 22, is less settled but seems to be carving a career as a fashion model, mostly in London. Miami is a five and a half hour flight from LA. Travelling between the two American cities is much less punishing than London to LA.

A house of this size in Miami would let all the children and their wives and partners visit for as long as they liked. The American football season runs from February to October, so David will want to spend as much time in Miami during those months. The Beckhams making the city their American base makes sense.

While Victoria and David have a dizzying range of commercial and social commitments, it’s hard to overstate how important the Miami dream has been to him. Jose Lambiet says: ‘He’s already part of the furniture here and I think people have a very positive view of both Beckhams. They have a very nice family, they’re hardworking and self-made. These are the things Americans like.’

In an interview last year, David said that setting up Inter Miami was the greatest challenge and triumph of his career, saying: ‘About eight or nine years before I retired, I knew I had to have a plan. The moment I retired, the next day I flew to Miami without any rest. I knew I had to start from the moment

I finished playing.’ It took him eight years to bring his dream to fruition and for the side to play its first game. Three years later, Lionel Messi signed.

David, instrumental in negotiations to sign up the Argentine star, said. ‘I have come in every morning at 7.30am just to see Messi – to know it’s real.’ It was, he said, ‘without a doubt’ one of the best moments of his life to watch Messi running out in the club’s distinctive pink strip. He’s now thinking about launching a women’s side. The fact Victoria and family buy into his Miami dream must make it all the sweeter.