Buy Your Own Private Island for $75 Million, Town Included
is cool, but buying your own island is way, way cooler. But to claim your own little spot in the ocean, you'd better be sitting on some serious bankroll -- because they tend to run upward of $20 million.
Take, for example, this 780-acre private island in the heart of Canada's famous Gulf Islands archipelago in British Columbia. It's on sale for a cool $75 million. Known as James Island, the picturesque spot boasts sandy beaches, a marina, an airstrip and even a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course.
Before cellphone industry pioneer Craig McCaw bought the island in 1994 for $26 million, it was home to a World War II-era dynamite plant and had a population of approximately 800.
Now it's home to a 5,000-square-foot, green-roofed main residence and six guest cottages, which have apparently sheltered the likes of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and music producers Quincy Jones and David Foster. And for those who would like to own a town, too, James Island has an Old West-style outpost with a store, library, kitchens and a gym, as well as a converted warehouse/wharf that "offers comfortable relaxation and the most spectacular sunsets."
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James Island joins several other idyllic -- and pricey! -- private islands for sale, including Black's Island in Florida (asking $48 million) and Georgia's Little Hawkins Island (asking a significantly cheaper $20 million). If you're on the lower end of the millionaire spectrum, however, we hear Watch Island off the New York coast is available for rent at $4,000 a week. (It was up for sale for $1.95 million this time last year).
See also:
Norwegian Submarine Base Surfaces on the Market
Kansas Missile Silo's Luxury Condos Sell Out
A Castle Made of Car Parts and Other Junkyard Finds
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