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Robb ReportSouthern Cross, an ultra-private Bahamian retreat, is the most expensive single-family home ever lisAug. 29, 2025
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Few places in the Caribbean carry the quiet allure of Harbour Island. Just three miles long, the Bahamian outpost—nicknamed “Briland”—has long been a retreat for royalty, rock stars, and billionaires seeking barefoot glamour and privacy. Its streets are lined with candy-colored cottages and golf carts, but its pink-sand shoreline is where the island’s reputation was made.
For decades, Harbour Island has drawn an improbable guest list. Barry Diller and Diane von Fürstenberg have homes here, as do Ron Perelman, Ellen Barkin, and Brooke Shields. Bill Gates, Mick Jagger, and Prince Harry are regular visitors. Taylor Swift, the Kardashians, and a steady stream of supermodels and boldfaced names slip into its restaurants and beach bars between yacht trips. The island’s charm lies in its duality—unpretentious on the surface, yet one of the most exclusive playgrounds in the world.
Southern Cross blends tropical modernism with courtyards and verandas that blur the line between indoors and out. Nest Seekers
At the center of this rarefied scene lies The Narrows, a stretch of shoreline known locally as “billionaires’ row.” Here, Southern Cross has just come to market at $47.5 million, setting a record as the most expensive single-family home ever listed on Harbour Island and among the priciest estates in the Bahamas outside private islands. The listing follows in the footsteps of Zehava, the Thierry Despont–designed estate once owned by former J.Crew CEO Mickey Drexler, which set a $42 million benchmark in 2024, and now sits alongside a $50 million estate in Lyford Cay at the very pinnacle of the Bahamian luxury market.
The estate spans 12,300 square feet on nearly three elevated acres with more than 200 feet of Pink Sands beachfront. Inside, the home offers eight bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, including a primary suite with panoramic ocean views, as well as multiple guest pavilions designed for privacy. But its appeal isn’t measured in size alone. Conceived by Chesterman Design and Architecture in collaboration with artist-designer James McGrath, Southern Cross reinterprets tropical modernism through courtyards, verandas, and floating planes intended to dissolve the line between indoors and out.
The home features South American hardwoods and precision-crafted German doors. Nest Seekers
The house “has a brilliant integration between functional, flexible spaces and the natural world,” says listing agent James Malcolm of NestSeekers Bahamas. “The wind, salt air, the sea, tropical sunlight, rain, humidity, flora and fauna—all are in harmony together.”
Malcolm, who grew up in the family resort business on Harbour Island, has seen his share of exotic destinations, but insists nothing compares. “Southern Cross is the epitome of the finest in Bahamian residential luxury design, scale, and sense of place,” he says. “There may be no better location on our three-mile Pink Sands beach than where this estate sits—lush, private, and overlooking the widest, quietest stretch of sand and the deep blue Atlantic.”
For years, Southern Cross has also operated as a celebrity-favored rental, complete with a chef, butler, and concierge service. That pedigree, along with its size and setting, cements its reputation as one of the most exclusive properties in the Out Islands. “Owning a second home here is less about investment and more about joy, connection, and memory-making,” Malcolm adds.
Source: https://robbreport.com/shelter/homes-for-sale/southern-cross-estate-harbour-island-bahamas-1237003968/
