We are about to take a look at one of the most expensive districts in the USA. This is Fisher Island. Mel Brooks, Julia Roberts and Oprah had homes here. The average income of residents is $2.2 million, making this neighborhood the most expensive ZIP code in the US.
We have the opportunity to visit it. To get there, you need to take a ferry. This is one of the few ways. Another is by using a private yacht. Only 800 families and their guests are allowed on Fisher Island.
Therefore, security at the ferry terminal is quite tight, but we were given special access thanks to Dora Puig, one of the real estate agents on the island.
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Fisher Island is only accessible by ferry
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What is Fisher Island?
“Fisher Island is a private enclave with an area of 0.96 square kilometers,” says Dora Puig, a real estate agent at Luxe Living Realty.
Dora invited us to visit the newest investments on Fisher Island, Palazzo Del Sol and Palazzo Della Luna, opened in 2019.
This is how we found ourselves on board the newest ferry to the island, which transported us from Miami Beach in seven minutes.
I'm currently on a ferry heading to Fisher Island and, as you can see, I'm the only person in the passenger lounge. Most passengers are in their cars. We have a Bentley, a Lamborghini, a Porsche and probably a Ferrari here.
However, you won't see these cars speeding around the island due to strict speed limits. So most people move around in golf carts.
When you go to the beach club, you have a Rolls-Royce or Range Rover golf cart at your disposal. I've even seen old American cars in light blue
says Dora.
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The island offers many amenities
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How much do real estate cost in the most expensive neighborhood in the US?
The average price of a waterfront house here is $2.9 million, but residents spend millions not only on apartments. They also pay high membership fees.
These include unlimited access to swimming pools, 17 tennis courts and private beaches with sand imported from the Bahamas. However, they do not include a golf course or two marinas.
“The original idea for Fisher Island was for everyone to live in the community and enjoy its amenities,” Dora says.
Even on a private island, however, some residents want even more exclusive benefits.
The newest apartment buildings, Palazzo Del Sol and Della Luna, are not beachfront, but have a private gym, lounge, theater, swimming pool and water transportation that only residents of the apartment buildings can use.
Dora first showed us an apartment for $14.5 million in Palazzo Della Luna. He says many current island residents want to upgrade to apartments like this one so they don't have to share amenities with the entire community. This apartment has four bedrooms and five bathrooms.
You enter and you are on the ground floor, just like in a single-family house. You have a private pool, you are on the bay. Also look at the size of the external terraces. They surround the entire corner of the residence. You can organize a dinner here for 200-300 people
– Dora praises.
The biggest advantage is the disappearing master bedroom.
You enter a dressing room that looks like a Hermès store. A woman's wardrobe and white, lacquered Italian wardrobes. The bathroom was custom-made by Boffi and has a white lacquered island. The bathtub was custom-made and is called Fisher Island. We then enter the master suite with 10-foot-high ceilings
– says Dora.
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The properties feature luxurious interiors
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What do luxury properties look like on Fisher Island?
We were curious, so we went to see the second apartment, supposedly cheaper, located a few floors higher. For $9 million. you can get three bedrooms and three and a half bathrooms.
— We enter a wood-paneled living room with a small light oak library. There is a main living room, dining room and kitchen overlooking the bay. The master suite also overlooks the bay. There are two guest suites on the golf course side, says the agent.
For an additional $2 million. you can keep all the furniture. These two new developments made the island even more inaccessible and increased property values across the island by 20 percent.
Both Palazzo buildings are the first developments on Fisher in almost a decade and are aimed at a new generation of buyers.
Traditionally we have had a slightly older demographic because the island is so beautiful and expensive. We have noticed a shift to a much younger group. So younger families lived here. Some come from families with multi-generational wealth, others gained by selling oil companies, financial instruments, technology or hedge funds.
– lists.
Despite this, half of the inhabitants are over 60 years old. The island was a vacation spot for the 1%. the richest since it was established in 1906, when a canal was dug so that boats could sail from the port of Miami straight to the ocean.
“An interesting fact is that today's Fisher Island would have been south of Fifth Street in Miami Beach because it was connected to the Miami Beach Peninsula,” Dora says.
Real estate prices are crazy
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Where did the name Fischer Island come from?
Miami's first black billionaire, real estate mogul Dana Dorsey, was one of the first owners of the new island. He wanted to build a resort here for blacks, but had trouble bringing workers to the island to build it.
So he sold it to billionaire Carl Fisher, who named it after himself. The next owners were the Vanderbilt family.
— Carl Fisher and William Vanderbilt were known to throw parties here and have a great time. One night, probably after drinking alcohol, they made a transaction regarding the island. Carl Fisher traded his island and winter house, which now serves as a club, for William Vanderbilt's 60-foot yacht. They made an exchange, the yacht later sank, and William Vanderbilt kept the island. So I think he was a better businessman – says Dora.
After Vanderbilt's death, the island changed hands among millionaires. It then remained empty for 15 years. In the 1980s, developers began working on the community you see today.
Only a limited number of people can live on this island
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Fisher is now a full-fledged town. The old Vanderbilt mansion is a hotel where a room costs almost $1,500. per night.
Vanderbilt's old airplane hangar is now a spa, and you can even rent the property on Airbnb for around $700. per night. However, this does not happen in a vacuum.
About 600 employees are needed to operate the island. They live off the island and arrive on three different ferries. During the day, they work at a school, a post office, a fire station, security services and a medical center.
We just finished exploring Fisher Island. It's really hard to fathom the amount of wealth accumulated in one place. It is so close to normal reality on the other side of the bay.
Fisher Island is no ordinary place. It's like a resort where you live. The island is manicured, incredibly perfect and isolated.
Author: Abby Narishkin, journalist, Business Insider
