Azerbaijani billionaire picks up Palazzo pad for $11M

Aras Agalarov, an Azerbaijan-born billionaire who has shaken hands with the likes of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, just bought a unit at Fisher Island’s newly built Palazzo Del Sol condominium for $10.7 million.

County records show a company called Saffron Property Management, managed by Agalarov, bought unit 7064 at the waterfront tower last week.

Because the building is so new — it began recording closings last month — details about the unit are scarce. It has four bedrooms, four bathrooms and measures 4,956 square feet, which means Agalarov’s price breaks down to nearly $2,159 per square foot.

This isn’t the first time Palazzo has attracted a high-profile buyer: an unnamed Russian has the $35 million penthouse under contract, attorney Jim Ferraro has another in contract that was listed for $27.2 million and Yard House founder Steele Platt recently closed on his $8.1 million unit.

For Agalarov, the billionaire had visited Fisher Island years ago, and even used the island’s premiere golf course as inspiration for his own country club in Moscow, according to a 2014 Wall Street Journal article.

He made his fortune by founding Crocus, a company that specializes in operating trade conventions, and later expanded his business to run four Russian shopping malls. Forbes now values his net worth at $1.31 billion.

His son, Emin, is also a well-known pop singer in Russia and his home country of Azerbaijan, and has performed in Miami.