Inside the jaw-dropping $148M Miami waterfront mansion with marble terraces and a guest villa – plus celebrity neighbors like The Weeknd

DAILYMAIL.COM • 1d ago

By SADIE WHITELOCKS, US SENIOR REPORTER Updated: 16:18 05 Oct 2026

A Miami mansion with its own chapel, wine cellar, yacht-sized dock and enough tropical greenery to rival a botanical garden has hit the market for a jaw-dropping $148 million.

The sprawling waterfront estate sits in the ultra-exclusive Gables Estates enclave of Coral Gables, where music stars including The Weeknd and Pharrell Williams have also owned homes.

If it gets its asking price, the six-bedroom property would smash Coral Gables’ current residential sales record by almost three times.

The 2.38-acre estate at 8901 Arvida Lane is being offered by Manuel Diaz, founder of Florida landscaping and nursery business Manuel Diaz Farms, which has supplied plants for projects ranging from the University of Miami to the entrance of Gables Estates itself.

Diaz bought the waterfront parcel for $6.4 million in January 2003 before commissioning Miami architect Rafael Portuondo to design the palatial home, which was completed in 2007.

He then spent millions transforming the grounds into a tropical showcase featuring more than 600 species of palms, trees and other plants.

The estate also boasts 245 feet of deep-water frontage and an approximately 90-foot dock with direct access to Biscayne Bay without any fixed bridges – allowing the owner to take a sizable boat straight out onto the bay.

But the waterfront setting is only part of what makes the property unusual.

Tucked inside the estate is a private chapel, finished with custom woodwork and stained glass.

There is also a separate waterfront gym with its own bathroom, second-floor sun deck and hot tub, while the grounds feature a mosaic-tiled swimming pool, marble terrace, covered outdoor areas and a summer kitchen.

A covered loggia leads to a private guest villa, complete with its own living room, dining room, kitchen and en-suite bedroom. An air-conditioned garage provides space for four cars.

Inside the main residence, Portuondo’s lavish design continues with 25-foot grand arched ceilings, marble and wood floors and expansive windows overlooking the gardens and water.

There are six bedrooms in total, with the primary suite featuring its own sitting area, balcony and wet bar, as well as dual walk-in closets and an onyx-clad bathroom.

The home comes with plenty of other luxury touches, including a temperature-controlled wine room, a high-end Wolf and Sub-Zero kitchen equipped with professional-grade cooking appliances, a full bar, home theater, billiards room and two offices.

There is also an elevator to whisk residents between floors.

The property has had a long and somewhat colorful relationship with the real estate market. Diaz first listed it for $45 million in 2017 before raising the asking price to $55 million in 2018 and 2019.

After another price change, it eventually disappeared from the market. Now it is back – but at a dramatically higher price.

The $148 million asking price would make it one of the most expensive single-family homes ever listed in Miami-Dade County and represents more than a five-fold increase on the property’s first asking price.

The latest listing, held by Dennis Carvajal of ONE Sotheby’s International Realty, puts the property at roughly $11,849 per square foot based on the public-record living area of 12,490sq ft.

Marketing materials, however, describe more than 14,000sq ft of living space across the main residence and additional structures.

The eye-watering price also reflects the address.

Gables Estates was developed in the 1950s by industrialist Arthur Vining Davis and planner Richard Schuster, who turned 200 acres of mangrove tract into an exclusive waterfront community with large lots, private docks and guarded entrances.

Today, the enclave has fewer than 200 homes and lots and ranks among America’s most expensive residential neighborhoods.

It has also become something of a celebrity hideaway.

Pharrell Williams paid $30 million for a waterfront property in Gables Estates in 2020, while hospitality entrepreneur Sam Nazarian bought a home in the community for $14 million that same year.

The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, joined the neighborhood’s famous residents after reportedly purchasing a $54.9 million waterfront mansion there in 2025.

And another Gables Estates mansion, owned by University of Miami booster John Ruiz, has had its own brush with Hollywood: parts of the Elon Musk biopic ELON: The Tesla Story were filmed there.

For all its privacy, the estate is also close to some of Coral Gables’ best-known attractions.

The historic Biltmore Hotel offers golf, dining and spa facilities, while the spring water-filled Venetian Pool – carved from a former coral rock quarry in the 1920s – remains one of the city’s signature landmarks.

Nearby Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden stretches across 83 acres, filled with tropical plants, palms and flowering trees.

Miracle Mile, meanwhile, offers a lively mix of restaurants, bars and boutiques, while the upscale Village of Merrick Park is another draw for shopping and dining.

The University of Miami campus is also just a short distance away.

It is perhaps fitting that a man whose career has revolved around plants has created one of the most heavily landscaped private estates in the area.

Manuel Diaz Farms, founded by Diaz in 1969, now operates across thousands of acres and supplies tropical trees and plants throughout the US and internationally.

Its projects have included Disney World, American Airlines Arena, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and the entrance to Gables Estates.

Whether a buyer will be willing to part with $148 million for Diaz’s creation remains to be seen.

But with a private chapel, direct Biscayne Bay access, 600-plus plant species and some of Miami’s most famous names just down the road, this is certainly no ordinary mansion listing.

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