Victor Oladipo, a former Miami Heat basketball star, agreed to pay a Royal Caribbean CEO $9 million for his home in Miami Beach’s upscale Hibiscus Island neighborhood. The sale of Oladipo’s property at 65 S. Hibiscus Drive was finalized last week, according to Liz Hogan, a real estate agent with the brokerage firm Compass who represented Oladipo. Oladipo was transferred by the Miami Heat to the Oklahoma City Thunder last year after signing him for the 2021 season. He purchased the home in 2021 for $7.75 million, and he is currently searching for a new residence in South Florida.
The buyers are Dana Ritzcovan and her husband Alex Ritzcovan, executive vice president and chief people and outreach officer for Royal Caribbean Group. An interview request made through a Royal Caribbean representative on Wednesday did not receive a prompt response from the cruise company boss.
There are seven bedrooms and seven bathrooms in the two-story, contemporary home. The residence contains a pool and a one-story guest house, and it sits on a 14,375-square-foot plot of land. Hogan noted that the property is distinctive since it is larger than the conventional Hibiscus Island homes. In recent years, the Miami Beach neighborhood has drawn more billionaires and millionaires, giving Star Island in the area some competition.
Hogan claimed that she is assisting Oladipo, who suffered an injury earlier this year, in her hunt for a new single-family house in the well-known Miami-Dade suburb Pinecrest as well as in the Broward County communities of Davie and Southwest Ranches. The basketball player seeks a bigger residence with greater outdoor space so that his child can play.
Single-family houses costing more than $1 million continue to be in high demand. Miami-Dade saw 158 sales of homes costing more than $1 million in August 2023, an increase from 137 the previous year, according to the most recent luxury housing data released by Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel real estate consultant. Hogan claimed that because of this demand, Oladipo was able to sell his pad for 16% more than he paid for it two years prior.
If the basketball player decides to purchase a home in Broward, he will be neighbors with many other wealthy property owners. Last year, Broward County saw more high-end deals than Miami-Dade, in communities like Southwest Ranches.