Fisher Island, Florida

Fisher Island is a census-designated place in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, located on a barrier island of the same name. Since 2015, Fisher Island has the highest per capita income[5] of any place in the United States. It is located in the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 561.[2]

"Fisher Island" redirects here. For other uses, see Fisher Island (disambiguation).

Fisher Island, Florida
Census-designated place
Fisher Island, South Pointe Park, and Government Cut (foreground) and Virginia Key (background)
Fisher Island, South Pointe Park, and Government Cut (foreground) and Virginia Key (background)
Location of Fisher Island in Florida
Location of Fisher Island in Florida
U.S. Census Bureau map showing CDP boundaries
U.S. Census Bureau map showing CDP boundaries
Coordinates: 25°45′42″N 80°8′39″W
Country United States of America
State Florida
County Miami-Dade
Area
[1]
 • Total0.27 sq mi (0.69 km2)
 • Land0.24 sq mi (0.62 km2)
 • Water0.03 sq mi (0.07 km2)
Elevation
10 ft (3 m)
Population
 (2020)[2]
 • Total561
 • Density2,327.80/sq mi (899.47/km2)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP Code
33109 (Miami Beach)
Area code(s)305, 786, 645
FIPS code12-22375[3]
GNIS feature ID1853250[4]

Named for automotive parts pioneer and beach real estate developer Carl G. Fisher, who once owned it, Fisher Island is three miles off the shore of mainland South Florida. No road or causeway connects to the island, which is only accessible by private boat, helicopter, or ferry. Once a one-family island home of the Vanderbilts, and later several other millionaires, it was sold for development in the 1960s. The property sat vacant for well over 15 years before development began for very limited and restrictive multi-family use.

History
Buildings under construction in the summer of 2001

Fisher Island was separated from the barrier island which became Miami Beach in 1905, when Government Cut was dredged across the northern end of the island.[6] Construction of Fisher Island began in 1919 when Carl G. Fisher, a wealthy land developer originally from Indiana, purchased the property from businessman and real estate developer Dana A. Dorsey, South Florida's first African-American millionaire. In 1925, William Kissam Vanderbilt II traded a luxury yacht to Fisher for ownership of the island.

After Vanderbilt's death in 1944, ownership of the island passed to U.S. Steel heir Edward Moore. Moore died in the early 1950s, and Gar Wood, the millionaire inventor of hydraulic construction equipment, bought it. Wood, a speedboat enthusiast, kept the island a one-family retreat. In 1963, Wood sold to a development group that included local Key Biscayne millionaire Bebe Rebozo, Miami native and United States Senator George Smathers, and then former U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, who had promised to leave politics. During his subsequent presidency from 1968 to 1973, and during the Watergate scandal, Nixon maintained a home on nearby Key Biscayne known as the "Key Biscayne Whitehouse" that was the former residence of Senator Smathers and next door to Rebozo, but none of the three ever resided on Fisher Island.

The Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science at the University of Miami maintained the Comparative Sedimentology Laboratory on Fisher Island from 1972 to 1990 under the leadership of Robert Ginsburg.

After years of legal battles and changes in ownership, further development on the island was finally started in the 1980s, with architecture matching the original 1920s Spanish style mansions. Although no longer a one-family island, in 2005, Fisher Island still remains somewhat inaccessible to the public and uninvited guests, and is as exclusive by modern standards as it was in the days of the Vanderbilts, providing similar refuge and retreat for its residents. The island contains mansions, a hotel, several apartment buildings, an observatory, and a private marina. Boris Becker, Oprah Winfrey, and Mel Brooks are among the celebrities with homes on the island.

In 2005, the island attempted to incorporate as a town, but the Miami-Dade County Commission did not support this initiative.[7]

Controversies

In 2006, the Service Employees International Union began organizing the workers on Fisher Island in preparation for a petition for recognition as those employees' bargaining representative. The campaign culminated on June 15, 2007, with a march to the mainland ferry terminal that ended with a worker's arrest.[8] The New York Times wrote an exposé on the situation.[9] In the article, residents were portrayed as not caring about the welfare of the community, but residents disputed this characterization, insisting that the island included financially successful, compassionate people who had established several charitable activities on the island, provided health insurance to their employees and were involved in various arts organizations in the Miami-Dade area. The union argued that the wages provided by the island were too low for employees to care for their families and that the health insurance provided was out of the reach of most island employees.

The Fisher Island bankruptcy case

One of the last developable parcels of land on the island, a 15-acre (6.1 ha) site approved for residential development facing the shipping channel that separates the island from Miami Beach, was for a number of years subject to a protracted legal battle between Inna Gudavadze, the widow of the late Georgian billionaire Badri Patarkatsishvili, and investors aligned with his distant relative and former business associate, Joseph Kay.[10]

A judgment handed down by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida[11] on October 16, 2013, upheld in the US a previous 2010 judgement from the Supreme Court of Gibraltar that comprehensively dismissed the "wholly unconvincing" case brought by Joseph Kay.[12] The development then moved forward, under the supervision of Inna Gudavadze and the Patarkatsishvili family.

Geography

Fisher Island is located 3 miles (5 km) east of downtown Miami at 25°45′41″N 80°8′39″W.[13] It is bordered to the north, across Government Cut, by the city of Miami Beach, and to the south, across Norris Cut, by Virginia Key, within the Miami city limits. Biscayne Bay is to the west, and the Atlantic Ocean is to the east.

The entire island has a total area of 0.362 sq mi (0.94 km2), of which 0.267 square miles (0.69 km2) are within the census-designated place(CDP),[1] the rest being part of the city of Miami Beach.

Demographics
Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
2000467—
2010132−71.7%
2020561325.0%
U.S. Decennial Census[14]

2010 and 2020 census
Fisher Island CDP, Florida - Demographic Profile
(NH = Non-Hispanic)
Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos/Hispanics from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos may be of any race.
Race Pop 2010[15] Pop 2020[16] % 2010 % 2020
White (NH) 102 423 77.27% 75.40%
Black or African American (NH) 3 7 2.27% 1.25%
Native American or Alaska Native (NH) 0 0 0.00% 0.00%
Asian (NH) 6 19 4.55% 3.39%
Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian (NH) 0 0 0.00% 0.00%
Some other race (NH) 0 8 0.00% 1.43%
Two or more races/Multiracial (NH) 1 28 0.76% 4.99%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 20 76 15.15% 13.55%
Total 132 561

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 561 people, 197 households, and 131 families residing in the CDP.[17]

In April 2018, Bloomberg reported that the average income for Fisher Island was $2.5 million in 2015, according to a Bloomberg analysis of 2015 Internal Revenue Service data. This makes Fisher Island's zip code the wealthiest in the United States.[18]

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 132 people, 94 households, and 85 families residing in the CDP.[19]

2000 census

As of the census[3] of 2000, there were 467 people, 218 households, and 149 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,362.6 inhabitants per square mile (526.1/km2). There were 532 housing units at an average density of 1,552.3 per square mile (599.3/km2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 92.08% White (77.9% were Non-Hispanic White),[20] 3.21% African American, 2.14% Asian, 0.64% from other races, and 1.93% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 14.8% of the population.[20]

As of 2000, there were 218 households, out of which 19.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.5% were married couples living together, 5.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.2% were non-families. 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.51.

In 2000, in the CDP, the population was spread out, with 15.6% under the age of 18, 3.2% from 18 to 24, 20.3% from 25 to 44, 45.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 51 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.0 males.

In 2000, the median income for a household in the CDP was in excess of $200,000, as was the median income for a family. Males had a median income of over $100,000 versus $85,789 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $236,238. None of the population or families are below the poverty line.

As of 2000, English was the first language for 84.61% of all residents, while Spanish was the first language for 15.38% of the population.[21]

Education

The island has a private school, Fisher Island Day School, which includes preschool through eighth grade[22] for both on-island and off-island residents. The school was founded by Lexie and Robert Potamkin and Valerie and Michael Pearce in 2001. Approximately 30% of the students come from off-island, predominantly from the nearby Miami and Miami Beach neighborhoods of Star Island, Hibiscus Island, Palm Island, the Venetian Islands, Bayshore, South Beach, Pinecrest, Coral Gables, and Coconut Grove.

The island is served by Miami-Dade County Public Schools. It is zoned for South Pointe Elementary School, Nautilus Middle School, and Miami Beach Senior High School.

Notable current and former residents

See also

References
  1. "2022 U.S. Gazetteer Files: Florida". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  2. "P1. Race – Fisher Island CDP, Florida: 2020 DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171)". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  3. "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  4. "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. October 25, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  5. "This Is America's Richest Zip Code". Yahoo.com. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  6. Stuart, Reginald (July 8, 1983). "Big Island Near Miami Being Developed". The New York Times. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  7. "Fisher Island Village". Archived from the original on January 25, 2007. Retrieved February 2, 2007.
  9. Porter, Eduardo (February 1, 2007). "An Island of Moguls Is Latest Front in Union Battle". The New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
  10. Barrionuevo, Alexei (December 27, 2012). "Fisher Island: A Gilded Island, Swirling With Intrigue". The New York Times.
  11. [In re: Fisher Island Investments, Inc., and Little Rest Twelve, Inc., United States District Court For The Southern District of Florida, Case No. 12-cv-20939-KMW, 10/16.2013]
  12. [IN THE MATTER of the trusts known as The Valmore Trust and The Summit Trust, Mr Justice Dudley, The Supreme Court of Gibraltar, Claim No. 2008 M No 70, 17 December 2009]
  13. "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  14. "Census of Population and Housing". Census.gov. Retrieved June 4, 2016.
  15. "P2 HISPANIC OR LATINO, AND NOT HISPANIC OR LATINO BY RACE - 2010: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Fisher Island CDP, Florida". United States Census Bureau.
  16. "P2 HISPANIC OR LATINO, AND NOT HISPANIC OR LATINO BY RACE - 2020: DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171) - Fisher Island CDP, Florida". United States Census Bureau.
  17. "S1101 HOUSEHOLDS AND FAMILIES - 2020: Fisher Island CDP, Florida". United States Census Bureau.
  18. "This Is America's Richest Zip Code". Bloomberg. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  19. "S1101 HOUSEHOLDS AND FAMILIES - 2010: Fisher Island CDP, Florida". United States Census Bureau.
  20. "Demographics of Fisher Island, FL". MuniNetGuide.com. Retrieved December 16, 2007.
  21. "MLA Data Center Results for Fisher Island, Florida". Modern Language Association. Retrieved December 16, 2007.
  22. "Educating Your Child - Fisher Island Day School". www.fids.org. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
  23. "Working poor on wealthy U.S. island seek to organize a union". New York Times. February 1, 2007.
  24. "Sports Now". Los Angeles Times. July 11, 2010.
  25. "Chaos, loathing and the Big Three: How the Penguins unraveled". theathletic.com. May 24, 2023.
  26. Yardley, William (February 22, 2013). "Martin Zweig, Who Forecast '87 Market Crash, Dies at 70". Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via NYTimes.com.

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