Rick Ross buying waterfront Star Island mansion asking $37.5M

Rick Ross is buying a waterfront estate on Miami Beach’s Star Island, where his celebrity neighbors will include Gloria and Emilio Estefan and Sean “Diddy” Combs. 

The Grammy-nominated rapper and record executive is acquiring the 12,400-square-foot mansion at 37 Star Island Drive, according to sources and posts Ross shared on social media. The 0.9-acre property hit the market in May for $37.5 million. It has six bedrooms, eight bathrooms and one-half bathroom. 

Ross posted about the sale on his Instagram story. Combs said Ross had just been approved by the Star Island homeowners association. Combs gifted Ross a golf cart. 

“You can walk around Star Island, but it’s better to drive,” Combs said in Ross’ Instagram story. 

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A group of agents led by Coldwell Banker’s Jill Eber and Jill Hertzberg, of The Jills Zeder Group, are the listing brokers. Property records show longtime Oracle executive Yale Brown, now managing partner of Columbus Ventures, is the seller. Brown paid $4.6 million for the estate in 1999. 

Kimberly Knausz with One Sotheby’s International Realty represented Ross.

The sale hasn’t closed yet, according to the Multiple Listing Service. It went into contract on June 28. Eber declined to comment, but confirmed the home is still under contract. 

Miami Gardens native Ross, whose real name is William Leonard Roberts II, founded the record label Maybach Music Group in 2009. He grew up in the Carol City neighborhood and attended Miami Carol City Senior High School. 

His new property includes 100 feet of water frontage on Biscayne Bay, a 40-foot dock, a large covered terrace, pool, summer kitchen and a Japanese Zen garden. The house was built in 1992.

Star Island, with about 30 homes, is off of the MacArthur Causeway that connects the Miami mainland to Miami Beach. A handful of owners on the island sold their properties over the past three years, as the luxury market boomed shortly after the pandemic began. 

New owners include billionaire hedge funder Ken Griffin, who began acquiring Star Island land in 2020. Last fall, he sold the lot at 14 Star Island Drive to former baseball star turned real estate investor Alex Rodriguez. The deed was recorded at $18.5 million, about $5.5 million less than Griffin had paid. A source told The Real Deal that it recently was appraised at $44 million. 

In October, Lennar Corporation Executive Chairman Stuart Miller secured city approval for his waterfront mega mansion planned for the 2.8-acre assemblage at 4, 5 and 6 Star Island Drive. The modern compound would span 120,000 square feet including outdoor space, featuring upper and lower level lagoons, a conference center/home office, a gym pavilion with a spa and massage room, a master suite with a terrace and plunge pool, a koi pond, and tropical landscaping, including gardens and a green roofscape.

Two years ago, billionaire Anthony Hsieh, the founder and ousted executive chairman of LoanDepot, paid $30 million for the waterfront mansion at 34 Star Island Drive.

The waterfront estate owned by plastic surgeon Lenny Hochstein, also known as the “Boob God,” has been featured on “The Real Housewives of Miami.” Hochstein’s soon-to-be ex-wife, Lisa Hochstein, is a cast member on the show and has continued to live at the property after Lenny Hochstein first announced their divorce. 

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