When you are fortunate enough to accumulate millions of euros, anonymity and privacy become your most prized attributes. Indian Creek Village is a kind of 'island bunker' for millionaires that offers the wealthiest people on the planet the chance to live in peace, with extreme privacy and no human presence other than that of other millionaires. It is in Miami Beach (Florida), and the average price of its mansions is €20 million.
This island, just under 1.2 km2, is located in Biscayne Bay, a mere 12 km from Miami's financial centre. And the most curious thing is that it is not a natural island but the result of an early 20th-century intervention off the coast of the city of Surfside as part of a project to build a larger island. The project didn't go ahead, so they turned it into a luxury residential complex.
Today it has everything a millionaire could wish for - ocean views, mansions, golf courses, a great climate and a quiet neighbourhood - but what residents value most about Indian Creek Village is the security and the controlled access to the island above all else.
The island has only one access bridge that connects it by land to the town of Surfside. Visitors must pass through the local police station's own security checkpoint at one end of the bridge to gain access to the island.
The security force consists of 13 police officers who patrol the area 24 hours a day and a marine patrol that keeps paparazzi or onlookers who try to approach the island by sea away.
Of course, the police will automatically deny access to any non-resident or unauthorised person on their lists. So making a surprise visit to one of the residents is out of the question.
Fewer than 100 people currently live on the island. Among them are Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who bought a property there last year for $32 million.
Soon after Gisele Bündchen, the world's highest-paid Brazilian model, arrived with her husband, American football player Tom Brady, who bought a house for $17 million.
Julio Iglesias has lived there for years and even bought land for his children to build their homes. However, they moved on to other parts of the world and Julio eventually sold the land.
Other residents include investment guru Edward Lampert, the founder of Hotels.com, Robert Diener, model Adriana Lima and the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
