A private island with stunning 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 Bird Key Island and, after 40 years, decided now is the perfect time to sell it.
Speaking to DailyMail.com, Matheson said: ‘I’m 80 years old and the Miami real estate market is hot. Now is the time to do it.’
But the island’s underdeveloped state means it is currently a sanctuary for birds and other wildlife. And environmental advocates fear its possible sale to a developer who could build residential properties on the island, destroying the oasis.
Pictured: Bird Key Island, valued at $31.5 million, is for sale. The city of Miami is seen in the background.
Bird Key is located just 500 meters from the coast, south of the 79th Street Causeway, according to the list. It’s 37 acres in total, with about four acres of land surrounded by about 33 acres of “land submerged in bright blue water.”
It has been an important habitat for birds for hundreds of years, so much so that a British surveyor named it “Bird Island” back in 1770.
Christopher Boykin, director of development at Miami Waterkeeper, he told the guard that losing Bird Key to residential 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 just be a blight on our community, a blight on South Florida, and it would be too painful to bear,” he said.
The island is “valuable for fish and many other species of marine life, as well as birds.” “Its biodiversity, its richness of life, make Bird Key a truly special and magical place,” he added.
Bird Key is also filled with mangroves, trees protected by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
However, according to county property records, Bird Key is zoned for residential use, which theoretically means that if it is sold, homes could be built.
As the listing says: ‘The ONLY privately owned island, zoned RESIDENTIAL with views of the Miami skyline, in the middle of the beautiful, crystal 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,” he continues. ‘It is a golden opportunity for a developer to acquire it and use it for environmental mitigation, or one could acquire it to donate to the public as an environmental treasure, or finally a very lucky individual can create the most exclusive address in Miami, because this jewel is zoned residential.”
NBC Miami reported that the island as a whole, not just its trees, is on Miami-Dade County’s registry of environmentally threatened lands, which could complicate matters for interested buyers who want to turn the land into a community. residential.
José Francisco Barros, president of the Tropical Audubon Society, shares Boykin’s concerns and told NBC Miami that if any 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, it’s doubtful.
“It would be wonderful, of course, if the island was purchased by someone who would preserve it, whether it be the federal, state or county government,” Boykin said.
Finlay Matheson has owned Bird Key for almost 40 years and put it on the market while prices were “high.”
Bird Key is located just 500 yards from the shoreline, south of the 79th Street Causeway, according to the listing. It’s 37 acres in total, with about four acres of land surrounded by about 33 acres of “land submerged in bright blue water.”
Christopher Boykin, is an environmental advocate who primarily tries to preserve Florida’s water. Matheson gave Boykin permission to clean up Bird Key in 2018 and proceeded to remove thousands of pounds of trash from the island.
NBC Miami reported that Miami-Dade County, where Bird Key is located, made an offer to purchase the island “as recently as last year” with the intention of protecting it under the Environmentally Endangered Lands (EEL) Program.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told several local media that the owner rejected the offer.
“My management has been closely monitoring 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 are eager to find alternatives, including state or federal support, to purchase this property and expand the footprint of our Biscayne Bay protection programs.”
However, Matheson told DailyMail.com that he has not received or heard of any such offers.
“No one from any government organization, whether city, county or state, has contacted me or made me an offer,” he said.
He explained that a broker had contacted him last summer asking if he would accept an offer that could have been from Miami-Dade County, but he was not sure who did the appraisal since he never received a copy of the document.
DailyMail.com has contacted Cava’s office for comment.
Matheson added that the criticism he has received from environmental groups is unfair, noting that Bird Key has been on the county’s list of environmentally threatened lands for years.
‘My attitude is that these environmental groups and the county and the state have had every opportunity to do something and they haven’t done it. So now I put it on the market and I will sell it to someone who comes with a reasonable offer,” he said. “I have a clear conscience when it comes to selling 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, he said. The Miami Herald reported in 2012.
Matheson was eager to clean up the island, but said he was “hampered by the difficulty of mooring a boat large enough to carry the rubbish nearby.”
He went on to enlist 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 hauled 1,850 pounds of trash from Bird Key in 2018, the Herald reported in 2019.
A year later, on Veterans Day, Boykin and 25 volunteers returned and removed another 2,700 pounds of trash.
Matheson told DailMail.com that he has not spoken to Boykin in “a number of years”.
José Francisco Barros, president of the Tropical Audubon Society, said any construction on Bird Key would devastate existing wetlands, disturbing many native species on the island.
A look at the untamed terrain of Bird Key, home to birds, marine life, and state-protected mangroves.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levina Cava said her office made an offer to buy Bird Key from Matheson, but it was rejected. The reason for the failure of the agreement is unknown.
Matheson said he previously paid for a bird survey to be done on the island, as well as a seagrass survey. He also said that he had posted fish and wildlife signs around the island to keep people away, but that those signs have since disappeared.
He described himself as “a good custodian” of Bird Key, adding that he “has 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 (Finlay Matheson’s great-grandfather) purchased land on Key Biscayne, a larger island off the coast of South of Miami.
WJ Matheson developed a coconut plantation there that also had a school, commissary and zoo, according to the town of Key Biscayne.
The Matheson family later donated the 800 acres of land which used to be a coconut plantation to form what is now Crandon Park.
Finlay Matheson now owns a 4,268-square-foot home not far from where he started his family in Key Biscayne.
