Why do Miami’s mega-rich drop millions to live here? Step inside the Billionaire Bunker
Miami’s richest celebrities have found their hideaway.
It’s on an island in Biscayne Bay, guarded by its own police force and led by its own mayor. Beyond the entrance gate, you’ll find more than 30 mansions, a golf course, a country club.
But there’s no welcome sign for you.
New neighbors Ivanka Trump, Tom Brady and Jeff Bezos are leading the renaissance of “Billionaire Bunker.” Not only are they bringing their mega-money, but they’re bringing their mega-celebrity — and their quest for mega-privacy.
For decades, Indian Creek Village has offered a luxurious secret hideaway for the famous and uber-rich. Julio Iglesias. Dolphins coach Don Shula. TV’s Don Francisco.
Now, the island city is getting a new infusion of 1 percenters, and they’re knocking down, building fresh and moving in.
The feel of a private island
Despite the remote location and the mind-set of its residents, Indian Creek isn’t technically a private place. It’s an incorporated city in Miami-Dade County, with elected officials, a local tax rate, a public police department, a state-mandated budget.
But the “Billionaire Bunker” has a private country club mentality and does its best to seal its people off from the rest of the world.
Police patrol the entrance and the surrounding waters. The residents and town leaders generally keep a low profile about their village. There’s no corner diner to dish the latest gossip and politics — in fact, there are no businesses at all. And the town community center is actually a country club that requires outsiders to spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to join.
The only thing missing from the city is a giant “Keep Out” sign. But there are plenty of other signs.
This kind of protected island living, under the watchful eye of police and security and without prying neighbors or passing commuters, is what appeals to the rich and famous.
“Security has become one of the key elements,” said Danny Hertzberg, a real estate agent and founding partner of The Jills Zeder Group. “We used to say, ‘Location, location, location.’ Now it’s, ‘Security, security, security.’ ”
Miami has always drawn stars. Gloria and Emilio Estefan settled into a home on Star Island in Miami Beach. Madonna lived on the Brickell-Grove border. The Bee Gees bought a house on North Bay Road in mid-Beach.
And former President Donald Trump moved into a nice little pad in the town of Palm Beach.
Like the rich and famous in Indian Creek, these celebrities also settled into public places, not private gated communities. In the case of Trump, whenever he visits his Mar-a-Lago mansion, rising along a main road, police close lanes and detour traffic in the area.
The new residents of “Billionaire Bunker” don’t have to worry about any of that. They’re in their own universe, on a man-made barrier island in the middle of the bay off Surfside, Bal Harbour and Bay Harbor Islands, surrounded by high-tech cameras and armed officers. But they’re only about 20 minutes from South Beach, a half-hour from Wynwood and downtown Miami.
The buzz surrounding Billionaire Bunker buzzed louder in late 2020 in the midst of COVID-19 — when high earners began flocking to Florida, thanks to the warm weather and lack of state income tax.
And international supermodel Gisele Bundchen and former first daughter Ivanka Trump led the way.
“It took off during the pandemic,” Hertzberg said. “It has elevated Indian Creek beyond the rest of the market.”
The 294-acre island has 32 houses either completed or under construction spread over 36 lots, many of which have been bought and combined into expansive bayfront residences, according to Miami-Dade County property records.
The island can be reached by driving past North Beach and into the Town of Surfside. At the intersection of Bay Drive and 91st Street, Indian Creek Village police stop drivers at a checkpoint.
Arrival of Ivanka, Jared, Gisele and Tom
After her father, Donald Trump, lost the presidential election to Joe Biden in 2020, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, were among the first to descend on the palm-tree lined fortress in Biscayne Bay.
The parents of three purchased a 1.8-acre, 80,000-square-foot plot that belonged to Latin crooner Julio Iglesias for $31.8 million, and began work on a grand, Mediterranean-style mansion with Cinderella stairs.
Within days, Gisele Bundchen and her NFL star husband Tom Brady began putting down stakes. The Brazilian model and then-Tampa Bay Buccaneer quarterback purchased a $17 million manse from hotel magnate Jeffrey Soffer, whose family owns the Fontainebleau hotel and developed condo-lined Aventura.
The enclave didn’t seem the most obvious choice for the two young couples. The island, which became a municipality in 1939, had long been known as an elite haven for corporate titans and community leaders. Think car dealer, sports team owner and art collector Norman Braman.
Jeff Bezos joins the ‘Billionaire Bunker’
Then came the news that a former student at Miami Palmetto Senior High was coming back to Miami.
Welcome home, Jeff Bezos.
Bezos, the world’s No. 2 richest man and the founder of Amazon, came to town looking to add a new place to replant roots. Before he officially announced he was leaving Seattle to return to his childhood hometown of Miami-Dade where he graduated high school in 1982, Bezos snapped up two adjoining Indian Creek properties for a total of $147 million.
Months later, after relocating to South Florida, the tech king added another crib to his collection, for $90 million. That’s reportedly where he and fiancée Lauren Sanchez are living while the original properties are torn down and built to their specifications.
The centerpiece of Indian Creek Village
Will Bezos head over to the the Indian Creek Country Club for some golf and lunch? It’s a gathering spot for residents on the island and deep-pocketed outside members.
Built in 1929 by Maurice Fatio, the club offers an 18-hole golf course. Members can dine at a country club restaurant after playing tennis and croquet, working out at the gym or dipping a few toes into the pool.
“It looks like it’s 1929 all over again,” said Paul George, a history professor and historian at the HistoryMiami museum, who gives presentations on the club and community.
The chance to rub elbows with one of the approximately 350 members comes at a premium. According to the Financial Times, a country club membership must come by recommendation of an existing member and costs $500,000 just for the initiation.
It would all be a dream come true for the island’s founders, the Shoreland Company. The development firm built the island as part of its 1924 master plan for Miami Shores and originally called Miami Shores Island. The strategy mirrored what builders had done years before in Miami Beach by building pricey waterfront homes on man-made islands.
But it’s only over the past three decades that Indian Creek has gained major prominence thanks to the likes of famous artists, athletes and entrepreneurs buying and building homes.
“It was incremental, but we’re in such a starstruck era now with social media,” Professor George said. “It has become something. It’s everything a lot of the occupants wouldn’t want — that is it’s very much in the public eye. It’s very visible.”
The appeal of Billionaire Bunker
So why did Jeff Bezos choose Indian Creek?
The 60-year-old tech titan could bunk anywhere the rich and famous like to be. Coral Gables, where his parents live. Star Island off South Beach, where he could mingle with the Estefans. Gables Estates, with the priciest homes in the country. Fisher Island, which can be reached by ferry only.
It’s definitely not because Bezos wanted to double date with Brady and Bundchen — the model and the athlete split before their eco-friendly mansion was done. The Hall of Famer took over the reins of the bachelor pad project, while Bundchen scooped up two separate houses in Surfside, across the way.
Insiders say the top-notch safeguarding measures appear to be a major selling point of the island, which is protected from outsiders by a moat-like bridge manned by a guard at all times. Unlike Star Island, Indian Creek controls its streets and people who have no business on the island can be denied access.
“You just can’t get your own police force anywhere else,” said real estate agent Chad Carroll of the Compass Group. “If Bezos were in a different area, he would need his own team of bodyguards.”
And forget about flashbulbs in the face at this sun-kissed retreat. It’s locked down like Fort Knox.
Bundchen knows all too well about this situation as she broke down in tears after being pulled over while photographers tailed her car back in April. To snag a spontaneous picture of Bezos and Sanchez relaxing at their spread, shutterbugs from those celebrity sites would need to fly a drone.
Hertzberg, behind numerous deals on the island, agrees that Bezos, Brady and the rest picked the right spot.
“This is the only community with a world class golf course, oversized parcels and private streets,” said the real estate pro. “As Miami emerges as the premiere location for ultra-high net worth individuals, Indian Creek stands out.”
Sure, anyone can take a boat out to cruise by the three dozen waterfront properties, but note that the cameras ringing this invite-only paradise will follow you until you leave the area.
And the other appeal? Strength in numbers.
Carroll thinks Bezos was pleased that Indian Creek is already a known quantity with folks of his kind.
“The bunker is established, with prominent figures already there,” said the onetime “Million Dollar Listings” co-star. “Someone of his caliber? Why not if he can? This is the best of the best.”
Helping to keep things under control and keeping it together for his well-heeled residents is the island’s mayor, longtime resident Benny Klepach, the founder of duty-free retailer 3Sixty.
“The security of our residents is one of our priorities,” Mayor Klepach wrote via email. “I have daily briefings with our city manager, police chief and city attorney on pending matters. We take pride in our community here and what it has to offer.”
Home sales
Another perk of Indian Creek Village? It doesn’t hurt that the Billionaire Bunker is drop-dead gorgeous.
You won’t see candy wrappers piling up on the curb. The waste collection service comes like clockwork. Palatial villas sit on an acre or two on perfectly landscaped lawns and along 400 feet of waterfront.
But all this comes with a price, and those prices have gone up dramatically over the past few years.
“What’s going up in value is the dirt,” said Nelson Gonzalez, senior vice president of luxury home sales at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices EWM Realty. “You can always change the house, but not the view.”
Lots are getting harder to buy, and more expensive — just look at some of the home sales on the island over the years:
? In December 2021, a single-family home on an 80,000-square-foot lot at 22 Indian Creek Island Road sold for $40 million, or $500 per square foot, according to county property records.
? No sales were recorded in 2022, but a year later a house at 12 Indian Creek Island Road sold for $79 million. The lot spanned 80,000 square foot, leading to a price per square foot of $987.50, a nearly 98% increase from the last sale on the island.
? A house at 28 Indian Creek Road on an 80,000-square-foot lot sold for $87 million in May 2024. The $1,087.50 price per square foot was a 10% increase from just the year before.
It all comes down to what the rich really want.
“It’s Palm Beach-y, but with a Miami feel,” Carroll said. “Everything is pristine and an overall very pleasant experience. Just estate after estate, you can create your own little compound. It’s all that, a really special place.”
Indian Creek Village through the years
