If a 10-bedroom mansion, Rolls Royce or destination wedding offer insufficient bragging rights, you could keep up with the Johnny Depps, Ted Turners and Mel Gibsons of the world by picking up your own private island.
Sheldon Good & Co. is auctioning off three islands today and a pair later this month: two in the Hudson River, one off Belize, one in the Virgin Islands and another — a 23-island coral atoll — in New Guinea.
“There’s great sex appeal in the exclusivity of owning your own island,” said Steven L. Good, chairman and chief executive of the Chicago real estate brokerage and auction house. “It’s not for everyone, both in terms of lifestyle and pocketbook. But how many people have a private retreat on a private island?”
Sheldon Good isn’t the only firm trying to cash in on the cachet of islands.
Vladi Private Islands, a Hamburg, Germany, company that specializes in island listings, calls the exclusive retreats the only reliable places for escaping crowds.
“People who want to buy an island generally look for solitude, tranquility, privacy and a place away from the everyday routine,” said Farhad Vladi, who runs the firm.
Though most high-profile island buyers are billionaires, you don’t have to break the bank to buy an island. Vladi says it has many listings in the $200,000 to $800,000 range.
FIVE HOT SPOTS
But the islands being auctioned off by Sheldon Good cost considerably more than that. The lowest minimum bid being accepted for any of the group of five is $1.2 million for Green Island, a 24-acre wooded site in the Hudson River with 7,000 feet of waterfront. The property, which is about 15 minutes from Saratoga Springs, includes six acres on the mainland and an 1,800-foot shale runway for your plane.
To participate in the sealed bid auctions, bidders had to submit deposits equal to $275,000 on the low end up to $600,000 — in certified or cashier’s checks.
The other islands on the block today are:
ﾕ Castaways Reef, Belize — This one has a 4,250 square foot, five-bedroom house with green technology and 22 mahogany French doors. The 14-acre island with 2,000 feet of beachfront in the Turneffe Atoll is offered for a minimum bid of $2.75 million.
ﾕ Thompson Island — A 46-acre “equestrian” island with two miles of waterfront, it’s located in the middle of the Hudson River in Saratoga County, N.Y. For a minimum bid of $3 million, you can try for this island, which features a stone home, horse barn and its own motorized cable ferry.
The deadlines for submitting bids for two other islands have been extended to Aug. 17 and Aug. 30, respectively. They are:
ﾕ Thatch Cay — This 230-acre island with five mile of shoreline is divided into three parcels. Just off the northeastern coast of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, it is undeveloped and has a protected cove on the south shore. It’s offered for a minimum bid of $18 million.
ﾕ New Guinea Coral Atoll — A 23-island archipelago consisting of 926.5 acres in Papua, it features coral reefs. For a minimum bid of $5 million, it would be like “buying your own world,” according to the auction house. Coconut palms and white sand are in abundance.
Both Castaways Reef and Thatch Cay have been listed on other websites before — with asking prices higher than the minimum bids.
Good said he has received around 100 inquiries but the auction house declined to reveal how many bids have come in.
A MARKETING BUZZ
Sheldon Good decided to hold the islands auction to pool marketing costs and create a buzz. “It creates a sense of urgency where it might otherwise not exist,” Good said.
If you’re thinking of joining the ranks of shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who basked on Skorpios, an island in the Ionian Sea, or Marlon Brando, who had his own South Pacific hideaway, there are a few things to consider.
Adele Cygelman, editor-in-chief of Malibu-based Robb Report Vacation Homes, points out that while the appeal of an island getaway with palm trees swaying in the breeze is obvious, “the reality is that owning an island takes an incredible amount of cash.
“Even if an island is priced fairly reasonably — and I am not sure what reasonable is — you can assume that it is probably pretty small and comes with few facilities,” she said.
Vladi argues that technology, from solar heating to satellite dishes, has made island living more realistic.
But Cygelman said many islands need desalinization plants. Besides water, they often lack roads, sewage systems and even landing strips. There are also the questions of telecommunications and the ability to evacuate if a hurricane threatens.
THE ADVENTURER
“You have to figure it all out; it’s for the daring adventurer,” Cygelman said.
Vladi himself got into the island business after traveling to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean in 1971. Too poor to buy his own island, he began brokering island sales.
In the last 35 years, Vladi has sold more than 1,800 islands.
“They are considered the top firm in the world,” said Cygelman.
Some of the island properties Vladi handles are considered so exclusive they aren’t even listed on the Vladi Private Islands website. Potential owners who want “discreet sales” should make private inquiries.
For those who aren’t so rich or famous, there are always island rentals. Vladi Island Travel lists islands in 40 locales from Ireland to the Bahamas that rent for $75 to $7,500 per day.
By JANE BUSSEY, The Miami Herald
