$1.7 Billion Worth of Homes on a 4-Mile Stretch: Welcome to Miami’s R…

More than two decades ago, attorney Robert Zarco paid $3 million for an acre of waterfront land with 200 feet on Biscayne Bay in Miami Beach, Fla. He spent roughly $15 million building a sprawling, 11-bedroom Mediterranean-style estate, with a large outdoor pool and two docks with space for his four yachts.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic supercharged the Miami market in 2020, Zarco, a commercial litigator, has been approached by “aggressive realtors” with numerous unsolicited offers to buy his 19,000-square-foot home, several of which recently topped $100 million, he said. “If I told you I’ve had 40 offers, that would probably be an underestimate,” he said.

He’s not selling. “If you offered me $200 million, I still wouldn’t move,” said Zarco, 64. “I’d never be able to replicate this lifestyle. To build something else now would take years that I might not have.”

While properties across Miami have surged in value over the past few years amid an influx of new residents from the Northeast and beyond, the spike in the value of Zarco’s property is extreme by all measures. He attributes a lot of that jump to the property’s location on North Bay Road, one of Miami Beach’s most exclusive and sought-after residential streets. 

Over the past few years, North Bay Road has become known as the richest residential strip in Miami-Dade County, with roughly 150 waterfront homes collectively worth more than $1.7 billion along a roughly four-mile stretch. Since 2020, at least $1.19 billion in transactions have closed along the Biscayne Bay side of the road, including 24 deals over $20 million, according to data collected by The Wall Street Journal. The data show that 59, or nearly 40%, of the waterfront homes along the strip, have sold during that period. Double-digit price jumps on the street recently have led to many record-breaking deals.

“North Bay Road is the Park Avenue of Miami Beach,” said Nelson Gonzalez of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty. Agents say the surge in values along North Bay Road shows the degree to which the ultrawealthy are choosing to live in clusters. Similar pockets exist in pricey markets like Malibu, Calif., and Palm Beach, where the superrich have bought up homes in enclaves like Paradise Cove and on S. Ocean Boulevard’s Billionaires’ Beach.

Entrepreneur Anand Khubani said he was partially drawn to North Bay Road for “the quality of the owners.” He bought a $40 million newly built spec mansion in January. “It makes you feel more comfortable when there are other successful business people,” he said.

Known for its prime waterfront estates, North Bay Road is a narrow, tree-lined street that runs parallel to Biscayne Bay, snaking from Sunset Drive to the south to La Gorce Island in the north. Houses on the western side of the two-lane road, shielded by hedges and gates, offer some of the best sunset views in Miami, with some looking across the bay at the downtown skyline. Many have their own docks. More modest homes line the eastern side of the road.

Meet some of the street’s high-profile homeowners

1. IDEAVILLAGE PRODUCTS FOUNDER ANAND KHUBANI

— Purchased January 2025: $40 million. Listing price: Off-market. 14,500 square-feet, 6 bedrooms

The seller was the Salter family, owner of Authentic Brands Group. While they always intended to sell, they hadn’t yet listed it when Khubani, a friend, expressed interest. Khubani said he purchased the house so his family had somewhere to live while they built another property on nearby La Gorce Island.

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2. MEDIA MOGUL BARRY DILLER

— Purchased April 2024: $45 million. Listing price in 2022: $70 million. Roughly 1.5-acre vacant lot

Diller bought the lot from Bruce Beal Jr., president of New York’s Related Companies. He said he plans to build a family compound there. “Nice street—nice bend in the road,” he said of what drew him to the property.

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3. BEE GEES SINGER BARRY GIBB AND HIS WIFE, LINDA GIBB

— Purchased April 1981: $1.587 million. Listing price: Unknown. Roughly 15,241 square feet, 9 bedrooms

Brothers and bandmates Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb all lived on North Bay Road at one time. Robin and Maurice have since passed away. The Gibbs could not be reached for comment.

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4. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S LEAD NEGOTIATOR STEVE WITKOFF

— Purchased October 2020: $8 million. Listing price in 2019: $8.395 million. 0.4-acre vacant lot with 100 feet of water frontage

Witkoff has listed the lot with plans for a Kobi Karp-designed 9,000-square-foot house several times over the years. It was taken off the market in January 2025, having most recently asked $18.9 million. Witkoff didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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5. SOCCER STAR DAVID BECKHAM AND HIS WIFE, DESIGNER VICTORIA BECKHAM

— Purchased October 2024: $72.25 million. Listing price in 2022: $80 million. Roughly 12,500 square feet, 9 bedrooms.

The Beckham property, which has a spa, a wet bar and an outdoor pool, is the most expensive ever sold on North Bay Road. The couple didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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6. ENTREPRENEUR RANDE GERBER AND HIS WIFE, MODEL CINDY CRAWFORD

— Purchased December 2020: $9.625 million. Listing price in 2020: $10.9 million. About 7,700 square feet, 5 bedrooms

After buying a circa 1950s house on the water, the couple built a new home on the site. The couple didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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7. SHUTTERSTOCK FOUNDER JONATHAN ORINGER AND HIS WIFE, TALIA ORINGER

— Purchased October 2020: $42 million. Listing price: Off-market. Roughly 20,000 square feet, 9 bedrooms

The property used to be owned by former Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez. The Oringers didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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8. SINGER SHAKIRA

— Purchased August 2001 for $3.38 million. Listing Price: Off-market. About 8,700 square feet, 6 bedrooms

Shakira has listed the renovated 1950s house multiple times over the years, most recently in 2021 with an asking price of $15.9 million. A representative for Shakira didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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9. MODEL KARLIE KLOSS AND HER HUSBAND, VENTURE CAPITALIST JOSHUA KUSHNER

— Purchased August 2020: $21.5 million. Listing price: Off-market. Roughly 15,000 square feet

The seller, hospitality entrepreneur Keith Menin, bought the house for just over $12 million in 2019. He made a nearly 80% profit in a year. The couple didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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10. APOLLO CO-FOUNDER JOSH HARRIS

— Purchased July 2021: $32.25 million. Listing price in 2018: $24.9 million. Roughly 9,400 square feet, 9 bedrooms

Harris bought the house from former Sprint CEO and Softbank executive Marcelo Claure, who before selling had listed it for rent to the tune of $80,000 a month. Harris didn’t respond to requests for comment.

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North Bay Road has three distinct sections, divided by waterways, each with its own character. Upper North Bay, where Zarco’s property is located, has larger, more secluded lots and historically was the most sought after. More recently, the middle and lower sections have become popular; buyers like Lower North Bay’s proximity to South Beach and Sunset Harbour’s gyms, restaurants and shops.

“A lot of people who came down during the pandemic, they’re used to living in cities and walking, especially in New York City. They like that this is walkable,” said Jill Hertzberg, a luxury agent with Coldwell Banker Realty.

As Miami became one of the hottest U.S. markets during the Covid real-estate boom and wealthy buyers flocked to Florida for mild weather, lifestyle and tax benefits, North Bay Road became one of the biggest beneficiaries. Since 2020, all three sections of North Bay Road have seen dramatic price increases as properties turned over for the first time in decades. New-construction or move-in ready homes have been the most sought-after.

“There is so much money coming to Miami Beach. They have more money than time,” said Gonzalez of the buyers. “They’d rather pay an extra $30, $40, $50 million to have the house already built and you hand them the keys.” As properties have been gobbled up, scarcity has driven prices even higher. “At this point, we have to sort of knock on doors just to get people to sell, and not even knock on doors—knock on their door and bring them an outrageous offer with a contract in hand,” Gonzalez said.

“No one’s selling,” said Hertzberg. “At the beginning, people were thinking, ‘Maybe I’ll go back to New York, maybe I’ll go back to Chicago, eventually.’ Now, no one wants to go back. No one wants to leave the paradise they have found.” The price of land on North Bay Road is now around $1,000 to $1,500 per foot, up from about $500 per foot pre-Covid, said developer Todd Michael Glaser, who is in contract to pay $105 million for a roughly 2.34-acre property from fellow developer Sonny Kahn. Glaser and his partners plan to redevelop the site, building a 50,000-square-foot house they will list for around $250 million. 

Some residents have spent years cobbling together adjacent lots to build family compounds. Mickey Drexler, the former chief executive of Gap and J.Crew, has amassed 1.28 acres on the water. He and his wife, Peggy Drexler, paid $12.85 million for designer Calvin Klein’s former house in 2017. A few months later, they bought a vacant lot next door for $13.7 million. When another adjacent property became available, they paid $16.5 million in 2021, records show. The Drexlers regularly field calls about the vacant lot, but have resisted selling. “It’s a home, it isn’t a commodity,” Drexler said.

Zarco said his house, on a double lot, used to be among the biggest and most impressive homes in the area. Now, it is one of many. Not all are to Zarco’s taste; he described many of the new, modern builds as cold and uninviting, a departure from Miami’s architectural heritage. 

The neighbors have been looking to “one-up each other,” he said, building bigger and bigger properties. “It’s worse than keeping up with the Joneses. It’s beating the Joneses.”

That includes making the properties as resilient as possible. Zarco said he invested significantly in making his property hurricane-safe, using materials like reinforced concrete in construction and maintaining reinforcing the seawall over time. 

“It would take a tremendous storm for the water to reach the house,” he said. “The house is not going anywhere.”

Zarco said his insurance costs have roughly quadrupled since he moved in two decades ago, to more than $100,000 a year. Other owners along North Bay Road are paying “through the roof” insurance costs and plowing millions of dollars into keeping their homes safe, he said.

 “There’s so much money that these people have that they don’t care,” he said.

When Movie director Michael Bay paid $17 million in 2007 for a modern house on Lower North Bay, he said he drew criticism from locals who feared he would drive up prices. He said there was a lot of old money on the road when he arrived from California, paying cash for a new, roughly 18,000-square-foot house designed by Chad Oppenheim that he further customized with a state-of-the-art screening room and edit facility.

Bay was drawn to the neighborhood’s proximity to South Beach and Sunset Harbour, which is close enough that he can ride his silver-and-green Vespa to the bank. The community is also small and tightknit, said Bay, who recently had his neighbor James Pallotta, hedge-fund manager and former Boston Celtics co-owner, over to view a film. Pallotta owns two adjoining properties nearby. He bought one in 2014 for $20.5 million and the second in 2017 for $14 million. “Glad I bought early. Lots of great neighbors,” he said. Those neighbors include real-estate investor Barry Sternlicht, who paid $17 million for a house in 2016, and RockStar Energy’s Russ Weiner, who spent $19.95 million on one in 2016.

Bay said over the years, homes around him have turned over and prices skyrocketed and, since Covid, there has been an influx of financiers. He said he jokingly tells them, “You guys may be richer, but they named the street after me.” He said he’s turned down offers of more than $40 million for his house. “It isn’t about the money. Nope, I want to live here,” he said. 

The same goes for Zarco. “I can’t sleep in my bank account. I can’t throw a party in my bank account,” he said. He’s not trading in his view. “Sitting out on my dock watching the sunset at the end of the day, there is nothing like it. It’s like the fountain of youth. It ages you in reverse,” he said.