Barry Sternlicht, the Real Estate Bargain Hunter | nytimes.com
THE Paramount Bay condominium is a 47-story steel-and-glass cadaver. Conceived at the height of the real estate boom as another ultraluxury tower in a city that would soon be choking on them, it looms unfinished and unoccupied on Biscayne Bay. The lobby is like a mortuary. There are no chandeliers on the three-story ceiling, no paintings on the walls. And there is nobody at the front desk to greet visitors. The only sound is the eerie gurgle of a 40-foot waterfall. None of this deters Barry Sternlicht, the real estate investor who owns the building. “The bones,” he says, gesturing around the room. “The bones are extraordinary!”