“Indian Creek Drive – Home Sweet Home”
October 12, 2015
Last week the NY Times pointed out that the rich are currently providing the bulk of the funding for the Presidential election . This should not come as a surprise with sixteen or so Republicans vying for the chance to live in the White House, but what shocked me was the concentration of the wealth that has funded the campaigns so far. As few as 158 families from a handful of affluent parts of the country have contributed $176 million to candidates running for President. These families account for about half the seed money needed by these candidates at this point in the election cycle and we are still over a year away from the actual election!
What caught my eye most in reading this story was the location of these generous donors. Many of the donations were from areas of the country you would expect like New York City, Los Angeles, and Dallas, but more striking was the fact that the donor list included two unrelated individuals that just so happen to live on the same street. These two donors live on what Forbes magazine says is the street with the highest concentration of wealth in America: Indian Creek Island Drive.
Located near Miami on Key Biscayne Bay, the 295 acre Indian Creek Island is an oasis of wealth with 35 homes, 85 residents, and one golf course. The entrance to the island is from the prestigious sounding 91st Street, which leads to the only street on the island – the aforementioned Indian Creek Drive. The lots are all waterfront and the list of homeowners is richly impressive – four known billionaires, hedge fund managers, entertainment celebrities, one ex-super model (are you really ever an ex-super model?), and a former NFL coach. The estimated net worth of the 35 homeowners is $37 billion.
The attraction of the enclave would seem to be beyond the obvious preference to have neighbors who bring their trash cans in from the street after the trash has been picked up. In addition to beautiful homes, waterfront docks for your mega yacht, and a marvelous climate, the true allure of the island seems to be privacy and security. With only one road on the island to patrol, a private security team of ten provides 24/7 surveillance. This protection goes beyond the typical police cruiser given that the ten-person security detail has high speed boats and jet skis at their disposal to patrol the perimeter. The security is so tight that local real estate agents refer to the island as a bunker. The price for admission to this club is seen as only going up – as evidenced by a recent sale of one of the 35 estates for $47 million to a highly secretive, and inevitably anonymous, “Russian billionaire”.
Carl Gambrell
