Venture Capitalist Asks $37.5 Million for Home in One of Miami Beach’s Most Exclusive Enclaves

A home on Star Island, the ultraluxury enclave in Miami Beach, Fla., is hitting the market for $37.5 million. 

The seller is Yale Brown, 68, president of the early-stage venture-capital firm IMS Ventures. Mr. Brown said he bought the home in the spring of 1999 for around $4.65 million after visiting Miami for the Super Bowl earlier that year. It has served as his primary residence since. 

The roughly 1-acre lot has approximately 100 feet of frontage and a dock on Biscayne Bay, Mr. Brown said. Built in the early 1990s, the roughly 12,300-square-foot house has six bedrooms, he said, including four guest suites with walk-in closets and private terraces. After buying the house, he redesigned the guest suites as well as the primary suite, where he added maple built-ins and mahogany floors. 

Mr. Brown said he has enjoyed entertaining at the home over the years, and the layout of the house lends itself to large gatherings. The kitchen is large enough to fit a catering staff and opens to a butler’s pantry, he said. The dining room can seat up to 16 people, while the formal living room has a roughly 30-foot ceiling and windows facing the bay. To help protect the home from storms, all the windows facing the water were upgraded with impact-resistant glass, Mr. Brown said, and he also installed a generator. 

The backyard was also designed for entertaining, Mr. Brown said, with a terrace, heated pool, hot tub and covered outdoor kitchen and bar.

At the dawn of the year 2000, Mr. Brown said he threw a New Year’s Eve party for over 120 people at the home to ring in the new millennium. “I actually had a lifeguard here just to make sure nobody drank too much and fell into the pool,” he said.

When he bought the property in 1999, Mr. Brown said, he intended to keep it for just a few years, “but then I became enamored with it.” He said he has finally decided to part ways with it because he is getting older and wants to spend more time traveling. 

Star Island has about 30 homes on it, all with direct frontage on Biscayne Bay, according to Jill Eber of the Jills Zeder Group at Coldwell Banker Realty, who shares the listing with colleagues Jill Hertzberg, Felise Eber and Fabio Lopes. In December 2021, Ms. Eber and Ms. Hertzberg represented the buyer of a house on Star Island for $75 million, setting a sales record for the island. Ms. Eber said they have priced Mr. Brown’s home to sell.

A vacant roughly 1-acre lot adjacent to Mr. Brown’s property is also listed for $37 million, Mr. Brown said, and someone may end up wanting to buy both properties and combine them.