These days, two topics are dominating cocktail-party chatter in the southwest Florida coastal city of Naples. When will the tony Port Royal Club reopen following its multiyear renovation, and who paid $311 million for nearly 19 acres of prime waterfront property on coveted Gordon Drive?
For more than a year, the identity of the Gordon Drive buyer has been cloaked in secrecy, shielded by a land trust and strict nondisclosure agreements. The buyer assembled the estate in two transactions, first paying Canada’s DeGroote family $225 million for 15 acres last year, then, 14 months later, buying the property next door from Ralph and Shelly Stayer for $86 million. Even real-estate agent Michael McCumber of Waterfront Realty Group, who brokered the deals, claims he doesn’t know who the buyer is. “They’ve never set foot on the property that I know of,” McCumber said. “It was always through representatives.”
The $311 million buying spree created one of the country’s most expensive compounds, putting the mystery buyer in rarefied company. Citadel’s Ken Griffin has spent more than $450 million amassing a 27-acre compound in Palm Beach, while Amazon’s Jeff Bezos paid more than $230 million for multiple properties on Miami’s Indian Creek Island…