November 26, 2004 04:58 PM
Most Expensive Gated Communities In America 2004
Excerpt: he most basic service a gated community provides is a barrier to non-residents. But some offer access to golf clubs and private beaches, or general managers who can tend to plants and appliances while owners are absent. One on our list of the most expensive in the country has security patrols on the water to keep watch on multi-million-dollar yachts. Others have polo grounds and picnics with all the right people. News Source
As long as there have been rich people, there have been gates to keep everyone else out.
Many think Tuxedo Park, just north of New York, was the first gated community in America, but businessman Llewellyn Solomon Haskell designed Llewellyn Park in Eagle Ridge, N.J., in the mid-19th century, about 30 years earlier. He sparked a trend that continues to thrive well into present day.
Many of the country's richest people pay tens of millions of dollars to reside in estate neighborhoods with guarded entrances. Since gates block out gawkers and stalkers, they are popular among entertainment and sports celebrities, including golfer Tiger Woods, who lives in Orlando's Isleworth, and actor/director Ron Howard, who resides in Greenwich's Conyers Farm. Top executives can benefit as well, as Steve Burd, chief executive of Safeway (nyse: SWY - news - people ) discovered early this year when labor protesters were stopped at the entrance to his neighborhood in Southern California. Other residents simply like the privacy and the lack of traffic.
The most basic service a gated community provides is a barrier to non-residents. But some offer access to golf clubs and private beaches, or general managers who can tend to plants and appliances while owners are absent. One on our list of the most expensive in the country has security patrols on the water to keep watch on multi-million-dollar yachts. Others have polo grounds and picnics with all the right people.
"You're not just buying a house you're buying community services and facilities," says Michael Carliner, economist for the National Association of Home Builders, a trade association in Washington, D.C.
It all adds up to an increase in the number of gated communities in America--particularly at the top end of the price range. According to census data the NAH analyzed, in the United States less than 10% of primary homes that cost more than $500,000 are in protected enclaves. But for newer residences, those built between 2000 and 2003, the number jumps to more than 17%.
The actual percentage may be even higher, since the census only counts primary residences and not vacation homes, which make up a solid portion of the homes on the Forbes.com list.
We compiled our list of the most expensive communities based on the top prices of homes currently on the market. We didn't take raw land into account, unless the asking price included an as-yet-to-be-built home, and we didn't include clubs that require buyers to apply for memberships.
Following the national trends, the bulk of the most expensive gated communities are in the South and West. Carliner attributes that to "land ownership patterns," with larger developments and more new home construction outside of the Northeast.
Our list was particularly weighted towards Boca Raton, where residents include top chief executives and entrepreneurs.
With the exception of a few upscale communities in northern climes, the majority on our list are based, unsurprisingly, in more temperate states such as Florida and Arizona, which offer golf and warm weather year-round. As Carmen D'Angelo, owner/broker for Premier Estate Properties in Boca Raton, puts: "The sun, the sun, the sun."
The super-pricey gated communities in areas such as Boca, provide people who aren't on barrier islands such as Palm Beach with an extra level of privacy and security. And a backyard parking spot for the super-sized yacht.
Urbanites might scoff at the guarded gates, and criticize the homogeneity and seclusion of the gated communities. But in some ways, a Boca estate is not so very different from a Manhattan apartment. "It's like the Upper East Side," D'Angelo says. "Why do they have doormen on the Upper East Side? These are the doormen for these communities."
Plus, it means someone's always around when the dry cleaning comes.
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