Fisher Island Real Estate

Fisher Island, Florida is an artificially-constructed barrier island that's part of the cities of Miami and Miami Beach. With a population of just 650 families, the island features the highest per capita income of any census-designated place in the United States. It's home to a small number of luxury developments, villas, cottages and other buildings, which surround and form the former estate of William Vanderbilt II, who once owned the island. His estate includes a lavish mansion, a pump house and beach club tower, several cottages, a café and an airplane hangar.

The original mansion is now the centerpiece for new developments and amenities offered by the Fisher Island Club, a luxury country club and resort that operates all of the island's features, including two deep-water marinas boasting more than 100 slips for yachts of up to 200 feet, an observatory, an aviary, a private beach club, a tennis center, a 24,000-square-foot spa, fitness center, seven restaurants and a hotel. Celebrity residents of the island have included Julia Roberts, Mel Brooks, Oprah Winfrey, Karolina Kurkova, André Agassi and Boris Becker.

Fisher Island is accessible only by passenger ferry or private yacht. The island's beaches are known for their white sand and solitude. Only invited guests cleared by private security may board the ferry.

The island's private school, the Fisher Island Day School, founded in 2001 by Valerie and Michael Pierce and Lexie and Robert Potamkin, runs from pre-Kindergarten to fifth grade for both island residents and non-residents. Roughly 30 percent of the students are non-residents of the island from nearby Miami Beach and Miami neighborhoods Hibiscus Island, Star Island, the Venetian Islands, Palm Island, South Beach, Bayshore and Coconut Grove.

In 2007, developer Heinrich von Hanau of Fisher Island Holdings embarked on a $60 million restoration of the island's grounds and amenities now managed by the Fisher Island Club and constructed a new 9-hole golf course. He also completed 10-story condo tower the Palazzo Del Mare.

In 2014, Fisher Island Holdings began construction on 10-story condo tower developments the Palazzo Del Sol and Palazzo Della Luna, which will each boast 47 units and promise to compete with the highest-end properties of Miami Beach. The first tower, the Palazzo Del Sol, was completed this year. The price per square foot of the Palazzo Del Sol penthouses averaged $3,600, which is on par with prices for Miami Beach's most upscale properties. Non-penthouse units averaged $1950 per square foot. Unit prices ranged from $5.5 million to $30 million for three to seven bedrooms. Units feature 10-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. Amenities such as a salon, massage room, movie theater, wine collection showcases, Boffi kitchens, fur coat storage, butler service, a 24-hour concierge, an air-conditioned lobby and zero-edge swimming pools are offered with the state-of-the-art units.

The second tower, the Palazzo Della Luna, is scheduled for completion in 2017. Pricing and floor plans for its units have not been made public yet. The new developments have helped to hike prices on the rest of the island, which features mostly older developments from the 1980s and 1990s, by 20 percent since 2014. Following these developments, Fisher Island Holdings will still have the rights to build 84 additional units on two other vacant sites it owns on the island.