Jan. 20 (Bloomberg) -- New York real-estate developer Stephen M. Ross bought almost all remaining shares of the Miami Dolphins from team owner Wayne Huizenga and will become the team’s managing partner.

Ross, the chairman of New York-based Related Cos., will own 95 percent of the National Football League franchise and its stadium and 50 percent of its surrounding developable land, the team said in a news release. Huizenga will retain five percent of the franchise and 50 percent of the land.

Financial terms of the sale weren’t disclosed in the release. Ross bought half of the Dolphins and all attached properties from Huizenga in February 2008 for $550 million, according to the Miami Herald. Huizenga remained managing partner in that deal.

“I want to assure Dolphin fans that I share Wayne’s same passion to win and will do everything I can to support Bill Parcells in his leadership of football operations,” Ross said in the release.

The Dolphins won just one of 16 games in the 2007 season and began an offseason makeover by hiring Parcells, a Super Bowl-winning coach, to run football operations, reporting directly to Huizenga. The Dolphins won the American Football Conference East division this season, before losing to the Baltimore Ravens 29-7 in the postseason’s first round.

Parcells, 67, has told Huizenga that he intends to return, even though a clause in his contract allows him to opt out if Huizenga sells, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported this month.

Ross was listed by Forbes magazine in September as the 78th wealthiest person in the U.S., with a net worth of $4.5 billion. Huizenga was 205th at $2.2 billion.

Started Company in 1972

The 68-year-old Ross is the founder of Related, a closely held real-estate development company that owns the Time Warner Center in Manhattan. He started the company in 1972 as Related Housing Cos.

In December 2008, the company received $1.4 billion from investors, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the government of Abu Dhabi.

Related owns development rights to the West Side Rail Yards, a parcel near the Hudson River in midtown Manhattan where the New York Jets in 2005 tried to build a stadium. It also has formed a partnership with Vornado Realty Trust to redevelop the Pennsylvania Station area, a plan that includes a new rail station, a new Madison Square Garden and 5.4 million square feet of new office towers.

Ross is also the chairman of Centerline Holding Co., a New York-based lender and investor in affordable housing.

To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Kuriloff in New York at akuriloff@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: January 20, 2009 15:14 EST