如今，在佛罗里达州西南部沿海城市那不勒斯的鸡尾酒会闲聊中，两个话题占据主导：位于戈登大道、备受追捧的近19英亩黄金滨水地产由谁以3.11亿美元买下，以及高档的皇港俱乐部在经过多年翻修后何时重新开业。
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?
一年多来，戈登大道买家的身份一直笼罩在神秘之中，由一家土地信托和严格的保密协议层层保护。买家分两笔交易组建了这处庄园：先于去年以2.25亿美元从加拿大的德格鲁特家族手中购得15英亩土地，14个月后又以8600万美元买下隔壁拉尔夫和雪莱·斯泰尔的地产。即使是操盘这两笔交易的滨水地产集团经纪人迈克尔·麦卡姆伯也声称不知道买家是谁。
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.
“据我所知，他们从未踏足过这块地产，”麦卡姆伯说，“一直是通过代表人进行的。”这场3.11亿美元的买地狂潮造就了全美最昂贵的豪宅群之一，让这位神秘买家跻身罕见的行列。Citadel创始人肯·格里芬在棕榈滩斥资逾4.5亿美元集结了27英亩庄园，而亚马逊创始人杰夫·贝佐斯在迈阿密印第安克里克岛购买多处房产花费超过2.3亿美元。
“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.
但这种隐秘的拼地过程也折射出巨额财富正涌入那不勒斯，该市长期处于棕榈滩等富裕房地产市场的阴影之下。近期那不勒斯接连出现多宗超5000万美元的成交，滨水庄园争夺战异常激烈，许多地产几十年来首次推向市场。戈登大道这处地产上市的同时，街对面还有一处庄园也以2.95亿美元挂牌出售。这让那不勒斯的经纪人忙得团团转，得同时吸引不止一位、而是两位超级富豪买家来到这座城市。
But the secretive assemblage also speaks to the massive wealth pouring into Naples, which has long been in the shadow of Palm Beach and other affluent real-estate markets. Naples has recently seen a string of sales above $50 million amid fierce competition for waterfront estates, many coming to market for the first time in decades. The Gordon Drive property was on the market at the same time as a compound down the street, also listed for $295 million. That left Naples agents scrambling to lure not one but two ultrarich buyers to the city.