- Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, is quiet about its rich Russians who have purchased homes there.
- Speaking about it can be “bad to business for many real estate agents and firms.”
- Locals said they were skeptical about believing Russia could have seen everything, but she’d prefer not to take a chance.
Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, keeps its lips closed about the Russian wealth residing there.It was initially a popular destination for visitors and migrants fleeing communism within the Soviet Union; this pocket of Florida’s Miami region experienced a luxury-development boom around the turn into the 20th century. Since then, many Russian elites have invested their cash in high-rise condominiums that are atop the ocean. However, with the increasing tensions in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, many don’t want to discuss the wealth that fueled the city’s economy and earned its nickname “Little Moscow.”
“They enjoy being in this country; they want to spend money and have fun,” Lana Bell, one of the Russian real estate agents, said to NewsNation reporter Brian Entin of her wealthy Russian clientele just before Russia attacked Ukraine.
Bell did not respond to several emails I had sent to her asking to meet with her last week while visiting Sunny Isles. The same silence I’ve received from other real estate agents. One agent I did talk with reacted to my inquiry regarding a Russian buyer and said that there were none.
In recent times, Florida saw the highest amount of Russian home purchases across the US. While many preferred Sunny Isles Beach for its geographical location, the agents I spoke to said, the market was heavily dominated by buyers from the US, Europe, and South America.
A few people recognized the impact of Russian purchasers from Sunny Isles Beach, telling me that they have yet to witness major shifts in the market due to the impact of sanctions. Russian buyers appear to be in a holding pattern, looking at their options as they wait to see the impact of sanctions on their finances.
The decision to remain quiet is sensible since wealthy Russians become anxious due to the growing number of sanctions. Daniel Gielchinsky, a lawyer at DGIM Law, PLLC in close Aventura, Florida, who is involved in real estate litigation and bankruptcy matters in this region, explained that the case of Russian buyer’s discretion was crucial. Speaking up was “bad to business,” the lawyer said.
I heard the same story from one local business owner on Collins Avenue, who was anxious to share his thoughts about the conflict or its impact on his business. Many locals who did not want to speak to me in public gave the same excuse; however, their work was more personal as they were still family friends in Russia. In the wake of Putin’s first strike on Ukraine, thousands of protesters against the war in Russia were detained. The New York Times published a Russian state TV employee who interrupted a live show with a protest against the war, was detained, interrogated for 14 hours, and then fined.
A Russian American who lives in South Florida and frequents Sunny Isles Beach to meet friends told me, “It’s devastating to see what’s happening now.” She claimed that she was born in Russia. However, she is Ukrainian and has family members from both countries.
“It is extremely frightening to be able to witness the sheer amount of propaganda Russians are exposed to,” the journalist said. “It’s difficult to discern the truth while you’re in the middle and constantly manipulating public opinions.”
When I asked her if we could include the full title of her name for an article, she said no in favor of anonymity, citing security reasons. “While I don’t want to think that they’re monitoring every single thing but I’d rather not take the risk.”
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