Where Does Emilio Estefan Live in Florida? His Miami Beach Homes and Holdings

Where does Emilio Estefan live? On Star Island in Miami Beach, in the home he shares with his wife Gloria. That much is settled. What sets him apart is how much of the surrounding city he also owns or has owned. There is a hotel on Ocean Drive, a commercial building a few blocks away, a recording studio on the mainland and, until 2022, a second waterfront house on the Venetian Islands. Here is what public reporting says about each.

Key takeaways

• Star Island, Miami Beach is the primary home, shared with Gloria, per The Real Deal.
• Sold a Venetian Islands home for $13.7 million in May 2022, a 1934 house on Rivo Alto Island, The Real Deal reported.
• Owns the Cardozo Hotel on Ocean Drive, bought in 1992 and renovated for a reported $15 million, per Florida Insider.
• Miami Beach median list price is about $650,000 with roughly 2,500 homes for sale, per our MLS feed as of September 2026.

Where does Emilio Estefan live in Florida?

Star Island is the short answer. The island sits in Biscayne Bay off the MacArthur Causeway, with one guarded bridge and a ring of large bayfront lots. Emilio and Gloria bought their first property there in 1993, per The Real Deal, and they still live on the island today. Pure Equity does not publish private addresses, so we stop at the island name.

The couple's second Star Island estate is the one most people have read about. It sold in August 2021 for $35 million after six years on and off the market. We cover that sale in full in our post on where Gloria Estefan lives, so this post focuses on Emilio's other holdings and the business reasons he has never left Miami Beach.

Those holdings cluster within a few miles of the house. Ocean Drive is a short drive east across the causeway. The Venetian Islands, where he sold a home in 2022, are the next causeway north. And his studio is on the mainland, minutes west. You can see current inventory across the city on our Miami Beach page, and the wider celebrity map in our South Florida celebrity roundup.

Inside the reported Venetian Islands home

The most recent residential sale tied to Emilio is on Rivo Alto Island, one of the Venetian Islands between Miami Beach and downtown. In May 2022 The Real Deal reported that he and Gloria sold a waterfront house there for $13.7 million. The buyer was an entity called Lou Groll Investments LLC. Jill Eber and Jill Hertzberg of The Jills Zeder Group handled both sides.

The house itself dates to 1934, which is old for Miami Beach. It had grown over the years to about 4,816 square feet with five bedrooms and five bathrooms, per The Real Deal. The lot fronts the water, as most on the Venetian Islands do. No report gives what the Estefans originally paid or when they bought it. So we cannot say what they gained on the deal.

Timing matters here. It closed in spring 2022, near the top of the pandemic era run up in Miami Beach waterfront prices. A few weeks later, The Real Deal reported a separate Venetian Islands home flipping for a record price per square foot. So the Estefans sold into a strong market. If you own on the Venetian Islands, our Rivo Alto and Di Lido Island pages show what is for sale now.

Why Emilio Estefan chose Miami Beach

Emilio's reasons are business as much as family. He was born in Santiago de Cuba in 1953, spent time in Spain as a teenager, and reached Miami in the late 1960s. He worked at Bacardi while playing music on the side, and the band that became Miami Sound Machine came out of that period. From the start, he ran the group as a company, and the company stayed in Miami.

In 1990 he opened Crescent Moon Studios in Miami, a multi-room recording and post production facility, per his own company site. The studio has been in use ever since; Gloria's 2025 album was produced there. Estefan Enterprises, the parent company, covers music production, talent management, television, film, restaurants and hotels.

Then came Ocean Drive. The Estefans bought the Cardozo Hotel, an Art Deco fixture at the south end of the strip, in 1992, Florida Insider reported. They later closed it for about four years and spent a reported $15 million on a renovation before reopening. Nearby, they own a mixed use building on Ocean Drive that housed their Larios on the Beach restaurant. In May 2021 The Real Deal reported that building listed for $45 million. A year later the paper noted the couple still owned it. In short, Emilio's daily life runs along a few miles of Miami Beach, and his house is in the middle of it.

Where else does Emilio Estefan live?

The one other reported home is on the barrier island in Vero Beach. Vero News covered the couple's oceanfront estate there in 2010. The paper described roughly 90 feet of beach frontage, a gated drive and a tennis court on a lot north of the Windsor community. It is a second home, not a base.

Vero Beach is also a business town for Emilio. He and Gloria own the Costa d'Este Beach Resort and Spa on the town's Ocean Drive. The resort's site says the couple bought the former Palm Court Hotel, rebuilt it from the foundation after the 2004 hurricanes, and opened it in 2008. Its restaurant draws recipes from the couple's Estefan Kitchen cookbook.

Beyond Florida, no outlet we found reports a home in Los Angeles, New York or abroad. The restaurant chain reaches further than the houses do. Bongos Cuban Cafe has operated at Disney Springs in Orlando, at Miami International Airport and, since 2025, at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. Estefan Kitchen is in the Miami Design District. For Vero Beach inventory, see our Vero Beach page, where about 710 homes were listed at a median of roughly $415,000 in our MLS feed as of September 2026.

What homes near Emilio Estefan cost

Miami Beach is really two markets. The city had about 2,500 active listings, a median list price near $650,000 and an average of about 161 days on market in our MLS feed as of September 2026. That median is set by the condo towers along Collins Avenue and the older buildings west of Alton Road.

The gated islands are the other market. Star Island sales run into the tens of millions, as the 2021 Estefan sale showed. The Venetian Islands sit below that but still command eight figures on the water. The 2022 Rivo Alto sale proved it: $13.7 million for a house built in 1934. Buyers hunting that tier should start with our waterfront homes and luxury homes hubs.

Sellers should note the time factor. Five months on market is the city average in our feed, and trophy waterfront often takes longer. Countywide figures, including the mainland, are on our Miami-Dade County page.

Frequently asked questions

Where does Emilio Estefan live now?

He lives on Star Island in Miami Beach with Gloria Estefan. The couple sold their second Star Island estate in 2021 and a Venetian Islands home in 2022 but kept their main house on Star Island, according to The Real Deal.

Where in Miami Beach does Emilio Estefan live?

On Star Island, the guarded island off the MacArthur Causeway. We do not publish the address. His hotel and commercial building are on Ocean Drive in South Beach, a few minutes east.

Where does Emilio Estefan live full time?

Star Island is the full time home. The Vero Beach oceanfront house is a weekend and vacation property near the resort the couple owns there.

How much did Emilio Estefan sell the Venetian Islands home for?

In May 2022 The Real Deal reported a sale price of $13.7 million for the five bedroom house on Rivo Alto Island. An LLC bought it.

Does Emilio Estefan still own the Cardozo Hotel?

Yes, as far as public reporting shows. The Estefans bought the hotel in 1992 and reopened it after a multi year renovation, and no sale has been reported since.

Can you buy a home on the Venetian Islands?

Yes. The Venetian Islands trade more often than Star Island, with waterfront houses and some dry lots. Prices for waterfront homes there have run well into eight figures in recent years, per The Real Deal.

Thinking about selling a home in Miami Beach or elsewhere in Miami-Dade County? Get a free home valuation from Pure Equity and find out what it is worth today. Buyers can see Miami Beach listings or browse luxury homes across South Florida. Related reading: where Pitbull keeps his Miami base, and where Marc Anthony settled in Coral Gables.

Sources

• The Real Deal, Gloria and Emilio Estefan sell waterfront Venetian Islands home
• The Real Deal, Ocean Drive property owned by the Estefans lists for $45M
• Florida Insider, Estefans renovate the Cardozo Hotel
• Emilio Estefan, entrepreneur page (Crescent Moon Studios, Estefan Enterprises)
• Costa d'Este Beach Resort, about the Estefans

Based on publicly reported information; details may change and are not independently verified by Pure Equity. We do not publish private addresses.