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Nothing “beats” the eleventh-hour sale of this South Florida home.
Grammy-winning DJ Khaled’s former waterfront mansion has sold for $10 million, down from its original $16.39 million ask in 2024 — narrowly missing a foreclosure auction slated for March 30, Gimme Shelter can reveal.
The seller is Canadian music producer, ex-Montreal bar owner and Miami restaurateur Nahim Jorge Bonilla — of the now-shuttered celebrity hotspot Mandrake Miami, where high profile patrons once included Bad Bunny and Olivia Culpo.
The property was also the site of a pre-dawn raid and Bonilla’s dramatic arrest, captured on video, in October 2024.
Bonilla now sits in a Los Angeles jail cell, following his 2024 indictment for his alleged role in a multi-billion-dollar international drug trafficking and murder ring linked to the Sinaloa cartel. That was allegedly headed by former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, who was on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list before his January arrest and dubbed by the FBI’s Kash Patel as a “modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar.”
Bonilla was indicted in Los Angeles on charges including conspiracy to distribute controlled substances — cocaine and methamphetamine. He is charged with shipping methamphetamine to Quebec to settle a drug debt. He pleaded not guilty. A trial is slated for May.
Wedding also pleaded not guilty to 17 felony accounts including drug distribution, witness interference and conspiracy to commit murder. His trial is slated to begin on March 24.
The new owner of the Mediterranean-style villa in Aventura, located between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, is a New York real estate developer and an ardent DJ Khaled fan, sources said — adding there was about $9.3 million worth of debt on the property at the time of purchase.
“He really liked the property because it was DJ Khaled’s house,” said Douglas Elliman broker Daniel Kadoch, who represented the buyer.
It’s also where Khaled entertained folks like Jay-Z and Beyoncé. “It’s where he launched his career. The house is like a good luck charm,” a source said.
The extravagant residence, at 3194 Island Estates Drive, is still filled with DJ Khaled’s pricey custom furniture, some of his awards, and even some shoes from his famed 500-plus collection once displayed in the home’s 1,000-square-foot custom sneaker shrine.
Also left behind: giant, dangling chandeliers made of Swarovski crystal and 14-karat gold.
“The chandeliers alone are worth $1.2 million,” said the home’s listing broker, Garry Malakhanian, of Keller Williams Prestige.
“We had to pull teeth to get this deal done. The amount of stress!” Malakhanian added, explaining that the brokers had to “show up in court to stop motions” while dealing with a client who was in jail.
The residence, which comes with 240 feet on the water, sits on .57 acres inside a gated community.
It last asked $10.9 million.
Built in 2001, the 6,321-square-foot abode features five bedrooms and 6.5 baths. The home first hit the market for $11 million in 2022. The sellers then raised the price to $16.39 million in 2024.
Last month, the home’s price was chopped to $10.9 million as the foreclosure auction loomed.
Bonilla bought the home in 2020 for $4.8 million with his wife, Melissa Granda — they were both co-founders of Ruido Callejero Music and the Mandrake Miami. At the time, they had a third partner who they later bought out: Canadian trader Simon Librati.
Interior touches include 30-foot-high vaulted ceilings, walnut and marble floors, oversize windows, high-end finishes, a spiral staircase and an elevator. There’s also a chef’s kitchen, a main bedroom suite with a sitting area — and a terrace with water views, a fireplace and a wine room.
Khaled paid $3.84 million for the villa in 2015, then spent around $2.5 million on renovations, including the sneaker closet build-out. Khaled’s other designs — including the bedroom suite, a movie theater with a 128-inch TV and an outdoor patio — also remain.
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