Miami Beach’s Star Island is Now Ranked as the Nation’s Highest Priced Neighborhoods

Miami Beach's exclusive Star Island has taken the top spot among the most expensive areas in the country, surpassing Port Royal in Naples, FL, Beverly Hill's Gateway, and Trousdale Estates in Beverly Hills. In 2022, the price of the typical home sold on the island was $40.2 million, an increase of $16.7 million and 71% from 2019 when it was $23.5 million.

Ken Griffin, the founder of Citadel and a heavyweight in the hedge fund industry, has spent a total of $170 million over the past few years buying a collection of five houses on the island. Griffin made a big impression when he paid $75 million for a 1993 demolition on 1.8 acres at 8 Star Island Drive. At the time, the sale broke a record for Miami-Dade County single-family home sales, but Griffin is no stranger to shattering records.

Griffin also bought the nearby 10 Star Island for $25 million, 11 and 12 Star Island Drive for about $37 million, and 13 Star Island for $32.5 million in an off-market purchase. Also, he was the owner of 14 Star Island, which he acquired for $24 million in 2020 and reportedly traded for 13 Star Island for $18.5 million with former New York Yankee and real estate mogul Alex Rodriguez.

Griffin is not the only well-known investor who has bought and sold on the Island. Stuart Miller, the executive chairman of Lennar, paid $33 million for the old 4 and 5 Star Island Drive owned by Thomas Kramer, which marked the beginning of a protracted series of deals on the renowned island. With Todd Michael Glaser, Stuart Miller created an extravagant model home at 22 Star Island that was designed by DOMO Design and sold for $49.5 million in an off-market transaction managed by David Solomon and David Miller.

The owner of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, Robert Pera, purchased the 1.9-acre property next door from Miller in 2019 for $25 million. A contentious 28,000 SF seaside home with a basketball complex is being built by Pera. Marc Iacovelli sold the historic Carl Fisher estate at 46 Star Island Drive to Roger and Sloan Barnett for $39 million on the other side of 22 Star Island. On the island, Shay Kostiner recently sold his vacant lot at 44 Star Island for $10 million, while Anthony Hsieh, the founder and CEO of LoanDepot, just paid $30 million to purchase 34 Star Island Rive.

Just over the MacArthur Causeway from Fisher Island's entrance and Miami Beach's South of Fifth district, the gated Star Island has long been one of Miami's most sought-after neighborhoods. The Army Corps of Engineers constructed the island in 1922 as part of a dredging project, and Carl Fisher turned it into an island for the affluent and well-known. Celebrities and billionaires like Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Philip Frost, Sean 'Diddy' Combs, Alex Rodriguez, Stuart Miller, and Vladislav Doronin currently reside on the island.