The Consigliere

Miami's most expensive land wasn't land 100 years ago. A century ago, some of Miami’s most valuable real estate was still mangrove swamp and open water. Indian Creek, where a home recently sold for $170 million, the highest price ever recorded in Miami Dade began as little more than a speck of wetland. Star Island, Palm Island, and the Venetian Islands were created the same way: pumped and filled out of Biscayne Bay. Fisher Island, reachable only by ferry, has no road or bridge; its ZIP code has long ranked first in the country for average income per tax return. And Zillow’s current number one neighborhood in America, Gables Estates in Coral Gables, isn’t an island at all.