Miami Beach’s exclusive Star Island has emerged as the leader among the most expensive neighborhoods in the United States, leading Port Royal in Naples, FL and Beverly Hill’s Beverly Hills Gateway and Trousdale Estates, according to sales data from Zillow Group Inc. The average home sale on the ritzy island in 2022 traded for $40.2 million, up $16.7 million and 71% from 2019 when the average home sale on the island was $23.5 million.

Over the past several years hedge fund heavyweight Ken Griffin, founder Citadel, has purchased an assemblage of five properties on the island for a combined $170 million. Griffin made a splash when he acquired 8 Star Island Drive, a teardown built in 1993 on 1.8-acres, for $75 million. The sale set record for single-family home sales in Miami-Dade County at the time, a record Griffin is no stranger breaking. Griffin has also acquired the adjacent 10 Star Island for $25 million and 11 and 12 Star Island Drive in an off-market deal for roughly $37 million and 13 Star Island for $32.5 million. He also owned 14 Star Island which he purchased for $24 million in 2020 and sold to ex-New York Yankee and real estate investor Alex Rodriguez for $18.5 million in a reported swap for 13 Star Island.

22 Star Island Drive which sold for $49.5 million - Image via Stuart Miller

Griffin hasn’t been the only high-profile investor buying and selling on the Island. Lennar Executive Chairman Stuart Miller kicked off a long list of transactions on the prestigious island when he acquired Thomas Kramer's former 4 and 5 Star Island Drive for $33 million. Stuart Miller developed an ultra-luxury spec home at 22 Star Island with Todd Michael Glaser which was designed by DOMO Design and sold for $49.5 million in an off-market deal overseen by David Solomon and David Miller. Next door, Miller sold a 1.9-acre property at 23 Star Island Drive to the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies owner Robert Pera for $25 million in 2019. Pera is developing a controversial 28,000 SF waterfront mansion with basketball complex. On the other side of 22 Star Island, Roger and Sloan Barnett acquired the historic Carl Fisher estate at 46 Star Island Drive for $39 million from Marc Iacovelli. Other recent high profile deals on the island include Shay Kostiner selling his vacant lot at 44 Star Island for $10 million in June 2020 and Anthony Hsieh, the founder and CEO of LoanDepot, acquired 34 Star Island Rive for $30 million.

Currently, Alyssa Jansheski of The Inside Network has 27 Star Island listed for lease for $325,000 per month. The Jills Zeder Group has a vacant lot at 36 Star Island spanning 40,000 square feet with 100 feet of waterfront asking $37 million.

The gated Star Island has long been one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Miami, just across the MacArthur Causeway from the entrance to Fisher Island and Miami Beach’s South of Fifth neighborhood. Star Island is a man-made island in the middle of Biscayne Bay and located in the city of Miami Beach. The island was built by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1922 as part of a dredging project and was developed by Carl Fisher into an island for the rich and famous. The island is now home to celebrities and billionaires such as Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Philip Frost, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, Alex Rodriguez, Stuart Miller and Vladislav Doronin.