Vlad Doronin Sells Waterfront Star Island Estate for $120M

Billionaire developer Vlad Doronin sold his waterfront Star Island estate for $120 million, setting a new record for home sales in Miami-Dade County.

Doronin’s Garden Islands International LLC sold the 2.5-acre property at 26 Star Island Drive in Miami Beach to Constellation Drive LLC, a Delaware entity led by businessman Michael Ferro. The company lists an address for a penthouse at One Thousand Museum in Miami.

Ferro leads the private equity firm Merrick Ventures. He founded the Miami-based firm in 2007 after selling Click Commerce for $292 million, according to Merrick Ventures’ website. Ferro was also previously non-executive chairman of Tribune Publishing.

Doronin acquired the 22,000-square-foot Star Island estate, with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms, in 2009 for $16 million. Retired basketball player Shaquille O’Neal sold the property to Doronin. It includes a pool, tennis court and dock.

Doronin is founder and chairman of Miami-based OKO Group, a development firm that recently completed the 830 Brickell office tower with Cain International and is constructing Una Residences in Brickell and Aman Residences in the Faena District of Miami Beach. Doronin also owns Aman Resorts, a Swiss-based high-end hotel group.

Star Island is home to some of Miami’s wealthiest residents. Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin spent nearly $150 million amassing land on the island. Other owners include Gloria and Emilio Estefan, billionaire Phillip and Patricia Frost, rapper Rick Ross, billionaire LoanDepot founder and CEO Anthony Hsieh and plastic surgeon Leonard Hochstein. Sean Combs, who is in jail in New York awaiting his sex trafficking trial, also owns two properties on the island.

Doronin’s sale to Ferro surpasses Griffin’s nearly $107 million purchase of Adrienne Arsht’s former estate in Miami in 2022, which previously held the record in Miami-Dade.

Buyers continue to set records across South Florida. Earlier this year, Fatos Rosenberg sold the 1.7-acre property at 4445 Sabal Palm Road for just over $85 million, which is the priciest sale to ever close in Miami’s Bay Point neighborhood.

In what will mark a record for North Bay Road in Miami Beach, spec home developer Todd Michael Glaser is under contract to acquire a waterfront 2.3-acre estate for $105 million. Developer Sonny Kahn, a founding partner at Miami-based Crescent Heights, and his wife Suzanne are selling the property.