The Waste Management Billionaire Redefining Real Estate Ambitions
Waste management billionaire Patrick Dovigi was at his Aspen, Colorado, home when he got an unexpected call from former casino magnate Steve Wynn on New Year’s Day in 2024.
Wynn wanted to buy the house, though it wasn’t on the market. Dovigi had paid $72.5 million for the property in 2021, then a record price for the affluent alpine town, and had just finished fixing it up for his young family. “Initially, I said no. I wasn’t interested,” recalled Dovigi.
But Wynn persisted. Four months later, he and financier Thomas Peterffy closed on the 22,000-square-foot house for $108 million, setting a new Aspen record.
“I can’t tell you how many people told us we were crazy,” says Dovigi, remembering the reactions to his 2021 purchase. “I thought it was the best property on the street.”
At 46, the Canadian hockey player turned businessman has become one of the luxury real estate world’s biggest whales, buying and selling some of the priciest properties in New York, Miami, and Aspen, as well as in his native Canada, where he owns homes in Toronto and in Muskoka. In Aspen, where he has traded around $600 million worth of real estate since 2020, Dovigi is among a handful of ultrahigh-net-worth individuals contributing to a seismic shift in property values. In the past five years, he has bought and sold 10 properties in Aspen for more than $30 million each—six of them for over $50 million.
Location: Toronto, Canada
The Dovigis’ Toronto home is located in the upscale suburb of Rosedale. The couple paid about $13.7 million for the property in 2018. Fernanda Dovigi, an interior designer, oversees the design of their homes. The home was also the site of a 2024 shooting. No one was injured.
Even in the rarefied world of luxury real estate, Dovigi stands out for his ability to write big checks and trade multimillion-dollar homes like game pieces.
He doesn’t worry about speculation that he overpays, and he often sells the homes for more than he paid. “People in life are sheep, right? I think no one wants to be perceived as being the dumb money,” he says, adding that most people overestimate risk and underestimate opportunity. “I will pay for what I think something is worth.”
Trash by Day, Luxury by Night
On a sunny day in mid-July, Dovigi drives a golf cart around his private, roughly 9-acre island in Muskoka, north of Toronto, pointing out the contemporary structures he and Fernanda have built: a main cottage, pool house, four boat houses, and a stand-alone gym. In 2016, they paid about $6.9 million for the heavily forested island.
Visitors to Caniff Island take a five-minute boat ride from the mainland, where Dovigi recently built a staff house that sleeps 11.
“This is about as prime real estate as you can get in Muskoka,” Dovigi says.
Real estate is a hobby for Dovigi. On a recent afternoon, he relaxed as three of his five children played nearby. Fernanda, 40, sat beside him.
“Some people like to watch ‘White Lotus,’ some people like to watch ‘Love Island,’” he says. “I like looking at real estate. Listen, I’m trash by day and luxury properties by night.”
Location: Aspen, Colorado
Dovigi bought a property on Aspen’s Willoughby Way for $29.66 million in 2020 and resold it the following year for $31 million.
He began buying real estate in Toronto around 2005 and later expanded to Muskoka, Whistler, New York, Aspen, and Miami, where he moved during Covid. In Toronto, he owns a stately $13.7 million mansion. In Miami, he owns several condos on Fisher Island and recently bought property on the Sunset Islands. In Manhattan, he owns two condos at 432 Park Avenue.
Dovigi’s real estate thesis is simple: Buy A-plus properties in the best locations and buyers will always recognize their value. “It’s no different than why a Hermès Birkin bag sells for what it sells for. It’s limited supply, it’s exclusive,” he says.
Between the Pipes
Dovigi grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. A promising goalie, he moved to Toronto at 15 to play in the Ontario Hockey League and was later drafted by the Edmonton Oilers. By 21, he quit hockey and enrolled in business school. “You need to know where the puck is going, not where it was,” he says.
At 24, while working at a small investment firm, he was tasked with managing a failing garbage transfer station, which led to his founding of GFL Environmental in 2007.
When the 2008 financial crisis hit, he used debt to expand across Canada and the U.S. He took the company public in March 2020. Today, GFL has a market value of about $17.6 billion and around $8 billion in annual revenue. In 2024, Dovigi made about $49 million. His GFL shares and options were worth about $1.2 billion as of March. Two spinoff companies are valued at around $5 billion and $2.5 billion.
The Dovigis spend about five weeks a year sailing on their 377-foot yacht, Ahpo. Patrick has expressed interest in buying the 390-foot superyacht Breakthrough, reportedly worth $645 million.
They are also avid art collectors, with works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ed Ruscha, George Condo, Yoshitomo Nara, Richard Prince, and Monet.
In 2024, Dovigi’s Toronto home was targeted in a shooting. The same day, another gunman attacked the home of a former GFL executive, and arsonists set fire to GFL-linked vehicles.
Location: Miami Beach, Florida
In Miami Beach, Dovigi recently paid $27.5 million for a waterfront property and $6 million for a dry lot across the street. The seven-bedroom home spans over 11,000 square feet. The Dovigis consider Miami their primary residence.
“It was clearly targeted. For what reason, we still don’t know,” Dovigi says.
"He’s Buying Where It’s Going"
Dovigi is frequently in headlines for record-breaking deals.
“Dovigi isn’t buying where the market is. He’s buying where it’s going,” says Danny Hertzberg of Coldwell Banker Realty.
In 2022, Dovigi paid $41.5 million for a waterfront property in Bal Harbour, Florida. He sold the unfinished project for $69.5 million in 2025.
Unlike many wealthy buyers, Dovigi personally handles his transactions. “He’s decisive,” says Riley Warwick, his Aspen agent.
In 2021, Warwick told Dovigi about a potential site in Aspen. “Is it a 10 out of 10 property, or not?” Dovigi asked. He closed on it for $44.5 million and flipped it the next year for $55 million.
In Toronto, he once convinced developers to sell him the unfinished penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton for $5 million. He sold it for $9.2 million in 2016.
Dovigi also worked closely with Oren and Tal Alexander, real estate agents who were later arrested on sex-trafficking charges. “If they did any of what they were accused of, they deserve to go to jail,” Dovigi says, but adds he never saw anything inappropriate.
Thin Air in Aspen
More than anywhere else, Aspen has felt the impact of Dovigi’s luxury appetite. Of Aspen’s 20 highest-priced deals, he’s behind six.
His spree began in 2020 with a riverfront mansion on Willoughby Way for $29.66 million. He later upgraded to an 11-bedroom compound at the base of Red Mountain—sold to Wynn and Peterffy for $108 million.
He bought Jack Nicholson’s former home for $59.75 million, a home owned by Gibson’s chairman for $56.5 million, a $32 million property in January, and a $3 million staff condo.
Dovigi began vacationing in Aspen in 2019. Covid-era demand fueled a surge in property values. In Q1 2025, Aspen’s median single-family home sale price was $17.3 million—up 82% from Q1 2021.
Some locals worry about affordability. “Our challenge as locals is how to maintain a sense of community,” said Aspen Mayor Rachael Richards.
Appraiser Jonathan Miller says Dovigi’s profits have been modest but consistent in Aspen. “This type of entrepreneur has to be adept at going in and out of the market quickly,” he says.
Spec or Family Homes?
Despite his rapid buying and selling, Dovigi says he’s building for his family. He and Fernanda collaborate on each home. He handles the deal-making and layout, while she handles the interiors.
“We’ve never had a budget,” he says.
Though they live in each home briefly, people often approach asking to buy. Fernanda says, “He’s always like, ‘This is the place, we’ll never sell it.’ But then there’s always something else.”
That was the case with Wynn and Peterffy in Aspen. Wynn had purchased Dovigi’s yacht Lady Jorgia in 2023. A year later, he offered to buy the Aspen home. Though the two parties were $25 million apart, they ultimately agreed on $108 million.
“Buyers don’t want to sweat the details of construction,” says Dovigi. “They have more money than time.”
By: E.B. Solomont and Katherine ClarkeI The Wall Street Journal I July 31, 2025
Photo: Jennifer Roberts for WSJ