The Weeknd has purchased a waterfront mansion in the gated Gables Estates community for $50 million, setting a new record for the most expensive home sale in Coral Gables. The estate, located at 41 Arvida Parkway, was previously listed at $54.9 million.
Real estate brokers confirmed the transaction but noted that the deed has not yet appeared in public records. The Real Deal reported earlier this month that The Weeknd, whose legal name is Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, was under contract for the property.
Eddy Martinez and Roland Ortiz of One Sotheby’s International Realty managed the listing, with Ortiz representing the buyer. Both declined to comment on the identities of those involved in the sale.
The Weeknd is a Canadian-born artist who has won four Grammy awards and performed at the Super Bowl halftime show in 2021. He also created and starred in HBO’s “The Idol” alongside Lily-Rose Depp in 2023. In 2021, he acquired a mansion in Los Angeles’ Bel Air neighborhood for $70 million.
The seller of the Gables Estates property is Steven Lempera, an oil recycling businessman who bought it at auction for $25.5 million in 2019. The nearly 19,000-square-foot mansion was built in 2018 and features eight bedrooms, nine bathrooms, two half-bathrooms, a pool, and a dock.
Lempera initially listed the home for $49.9 million in 2020 and adjusted its price several times over five years before relisting it at $54.9 million this June. According to Redfin data, the estate went pending in September.
This sale surpasses Coral Gables’ previous price record set by Ken Griffin’s purchase of 650 Casuarina Concourse for $45.3 million in 2022—one of South Florida’s priciest deals that year.
Since the pandemic began, there has been significant migration of wealth to South Florida neighborhoods like Coral Gables. Earlier this month Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy paid a record-setting $27.8 million for a waterfront mansion in Islamorada.
