I’m selling my $32m private island so I can enjoy my golden years – but some pesky birds are ruining the deal of a lifetime

A private island with sweeping views of the Miami skyline has hit the market for $31.5 million, but its potential sale has sparked outrage among environmentalists.

In 1985, Miami resident Finlay Matheson spent $36,000 to buy the island of Bird Key, and after four decades he has decided now is the perfect time to sell.

Speaking to DailyMail.com, Matheson said: “I’m 80 years old and the real estate market in Miami is hot. Now is the time to do it.”

But the island’s undeveloped status means it is currently a haven for birds and other wildlife. And environmental advocates fear its possible sale to a developer who might build housing on the island, destroying the oasis.

According to sources, Bird Key is located just 1,500 feet offshore, south of the 79th Street Causeway the mention. It covers a total of 37 hectares, with approximately four hectares of land surrounded by approximately 33 hectares of ‘land submerged in sparkling blue water’.

It has been an important bird habitat for hundreds of years, so much so that a British surveyor named it ‘Bird Island’ in 1770.

Miami Waterkeeper Chief Development Officer Christopher Boykin told the Guardian that losing Bird Key to housing developers would be ‘too painful to bear’.

“Right now it’s a natural island, as it has been for centuries, and to see it turned into condominiums would only be a blight on our community, a blight on South Florida, and just too painful to bear.” endure,” he said.

The island is ‘valuable for fish and many other species of marine life, as well as birds. The biodiversity and wealth of life make Bird Key a very special and magical place,” he added.

Bird Key is also full of mangroves – trees protected by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

But according to county property records, Bird Key is zoned for residential use, which theoretically means that if it is sold, homes could be built there.

As the listing states, “The ONLY private island, zoned RESIDENTIAL overlooking the Miami skyline, amid the clear, beautiful, blue waters of the bay – with no traffic or people – is for sale!”

“Only four owners have been able to claim ownership of this gem,” it continues. ‘It’s a golden opportunity for a developer to acquire it and use it for environmental mitigation, or you could acquire it to donate it to the public as an environmental treasure, or ultimately a very lucky individual could have the most exclusive address of Miami because this gem is zoned living’.

NBC Miami reported that the island as a whole, and not just the trees, is on Miami-Dade County’s list of endangered environmental lands, which could complicate matters for interested buyers looking to turn the land into a residential community.

Jose Francisco Barros, president of the Tropical Audubon Society, shares Boykin’s concerns and told NBC Miami that if construction were to occur on Bird Key after a sale, it would likely involve the destruction of existing wetlands.

Boykin hopes that a conscientious buyer, such as a government agency, will purchase Bird Key with the intention of protecting it. But with a price tag of $31.5 million, he has doubts.

“Obviously it would be great if the island were purchased by someone who would want to preserve it, whether it be the federal, state or provincial government,” Boykin said.

NBC Miami reported that Miami-Dade County, where Bird Key is located, made an offer “as early as last year” to purchase the island with the intention of protecting it under the Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) Program.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told multiple local outlets that the owner had rejected the offer.

“My administration closely monitored the process at Bird Key and made a purchase offer that unfortunately did not meet the owner’s expectations,” Cava said in a statement.

“We would like to find alternatives, including state or federal support, to purchase this property and expand the footprint of our Biscayne Bay conservation programs.”

Yet Matheson told DailyMail.com he has never received or heard of such an offer.

“Nobody from any government agency, whether it’s city, county or state, has ever contacted me or made me an offer,” he said.

He explained that a real estate agent had contacted him last summer asking if he would accept an offer that might have come from Miami-Dade County, but he was unsure who had performed the appraisal since he never saw a copy of the document had received.

DailyMail.com contacted Cava’s office for comment.

Matheson added that the criticism he has received from environmental groups is unfair, pointing out that Bird Key has been on the province’s list of environmentally endangered areas for years.

“My position is that these environmental groups, the county and the state have had every opportunity to do something, and they haven’t done it. So now I’m putting it on the market and selling it to someone who makes a reasonable offer,” he said. “I have a clear conscience if I sell the island.”

Matheson had previously hoped that a government agency or private environmental group would make him an offer and preserve Bird Key better than he could. Miami Herald reported in 2012.

Matheson was eager to clean up the island, but said he was “hindered by the difficulty of mooring a boat nearby large enough to carry the waste.”

He then enlisted the help of none other than Boykin, who opposes Matheson’s decision to put Bird Key up for sale, to lead a cleanup effort.

Boykin and 17 volunteers transported 1,850 pounds of waste from Bird Key in 2018, the Herald reported in 2019.

A year later, on Veterans Day, Boykin and 25 volunteers returned and threw away another 2,700 pounds of trash.

Matheson told DailMail.com that he has not spoken to Boykin in “a number of years.”

Matheson said he has previously paid for a bird survey on the island, as well as a seagrass survey. He also said he placed fish and wildlife signs all over the island to keep people away, but those signs have since disappeared.

He described himself as “a good keeper” of Bird Key, adding that he had “been there many times” but decided not to use the land for anything.

The Matheson family is a wealthy clan that has been active in Miami since at least 1908 when industrialist William John “WJ” Matheson (great-grandfather of Finlay Matheson) purchased land on Key Biscayne, a larger island off the coast of South Miami.

WJ Matheson developed a coconut plantation there which he said also had a school, a commissary and a zoo the village of Key Biscayne.

The Matheson family later donated the 800 hectares of land which used to be a coconut plantation and formed the current Crandon Park.

Finlay Matheson now owns a 4,268-square-foot home not far from where his family started in Key Biscayne.