Inside Fisher Island’s ‘disharmony’ over the future of the exclusive community

Real Estate News admin July 1, 2026 0 Comments

Inside Fisher Island’s ‘disharmony’ over the future of the exclusive community

HOA disputes don’t just happen in the suburbs.

On Fisher Island, one of the wealthiest ZIP codes in the country, there’s a big one. And it’s not just over mundane condo issues like roof repairs or swimming pool maintenance.

This dispute, played out in a series of chats on WhatsApp, is over a real estate deal that could be worth hundreds of millions on a prized slice of the private island in Biscayne Bay.

Fisher Island was once the winter destination of choice for the Vanderbilt family. Oprah Winfrey, Julia Roberts and other celebrities have owned homes on the island home over the years. The place takes its privacy seriously; you can’t just pop in for a visit uninvited. And if you do secure an invitation from a homeowner, you’ll need to take a ferry from a terminal on the MacArthur Causeway.

Once you dock, you’ll find Mediterranean-revival condos, a sprawling tennis complex, marinas packed with yachts — and several large fuel tanks. On a recent afternoon, the island off Miami Beach was largely empty. But the quiet belied a simmering conflict over a piece of land long used by nearby PortMiami as a fuel depot.

Internal emails, group chat messages and meeting minutes obtained by the Miami Herald show the drama that’s been bubbling up in recent months, as county officials, developers and HOA board members have sparred over the future of the land.

Do not treat us like children. After all, we are the ones paying dues.

Resident chat

The site, a 10-acre parcel on the north side of the island, was a fuel depot long before Fisher Island was developed with luxury condos in the 1990s. The county had for years leased the site from its previous owner, TransMontaigne Partners. But when the firm sold the parcel last year for $180 million to a group of developers looking to build luxury condos, the county realized the port could soon be left without a way for its ships to fuel.

That led to months of closed-door negotiations between the county and the group of developers that now owns the site. The developers involved are the Chicago-based HRP Group and prominent local developers Russell Galbut and the Related Group.

In June, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava rejected a deal that would have had the county pay $400 million to buy the land from the developers. The county is now gearing up to take the land using eminent domain, a process that allows a government to buy land without the owner’s consent. The price the county pays for the land will be set by a jury.

Fisher Island Club, which manages the amenities on the island, and Fisher Island Community Association, the island’s HOA, filed suit in federal court in January trying to block the county from taking the land using eminent domain.

In May, the club and community association sued the developer HRP Group in state court in an attempt to force the developer to honor an earlier agreement. The developers had initially agreed to demolish the fuel tanks, remediate the land and give four acres of the parcel back to the island to use as a park or other amenity. The suit also alleges that the fuel tanks pose a danger to residents.

Both suits suggest that the residents of Fisher Island, who are represented by the club and community association, want the fuel depot site to be redeveloped with condos. But several residents have criticized the most recent lawsuit and the proposed condo development in WhatsApp messages obtained by the Miami Herald.

“And in today’s news,” wrote one resident in the Fisher Island Community Association group chat, “There is an email from fica [Fisher Island Community Association] and the club about the tanks property and a new lawsuit. No disrespect. I don’t understand it.”

“No disrespect intended,” replied another, “but how can a suit be filed in our name without even consulting members?”

“These tanks were there when all of us bought our homes here,” wrote another member, “I also do not understand.”

It’s unclear how many residents oppose the lawsuits. The Herald reached out to more than half a dozen Fisher Island residents and several board members about the fuel tanks and lawsuits. All declined to be interviewed for this story or did not respond.

Some are wary about more condos on the 216-acre island, where there are already around 800 units. One expressed concern about the island being “bombarded with more units,” and another said residents “neither need nor want” new units on the island.

There’s already construction underway on new residences on Fisher Island. Six Fisher Island, an ultra-luxury condo building, and The Mansions at Fisher Island, a series of single-family homes, are under construction now. The fuel depot land would be the last available space for development on the island.

Beyond the fuel depot suits, Fisher Island Club has been involved in extensive litigation in recent years. In meeting minutes from April 2025, a board member recommended that the club create a litigation committee because of several ongoing suits.

The lawsuits included one filed against the club by real estate broker Archie Drury and his wife, supermodel Karolina Kurkova, which became tabloid fodder when it was filed in February 2025. Drury claims he was unfairly kicked out of the club, which effectively cut him off from all amenities and services on the island.

The litigation committee predates the fuel depot controversy, but it appears connected to one of the concerns residents were voicing in the recent group chat messages — that the club and community association are spending too much on lawsuits.

“Who is paying the legal bills for this lawsuit???” asked one resident about the suit filed in May.

“I would really like to know what right do FICA and FIC have to file a lawsuit without asking us, spending our money on a lawsuit for which we don’t even know how much it could cost,” another texted, before closing the message with what’s become a standard phrase in the group chat: “No disrespect intended.”

With that polite sign-off, the resident seems to be hedging against the community’s “disharmony clause,” which threatens punishment for residents who sow discord on the island.

The association has sent emails in recent months reminding residents not to violate the clause, including in group chats. In a March email obtained by the Herald, the club told residents there would be a “zero tolerance policy” for breaking the disharmony clause. Violations will result in disciplinary action, the email stated.

“While free speech is a right, the use of free speech as a tool to incite disharmony is not,” the club wrote. “The current level of disharmony has reached a crescendo and would not be tolerated at almost any civilized club in America.”

And in a place where the club has an effective monopoly over life on the island, disciplinary action can be damning. Residents who lose access to the amenities that the club manages can no longer use the island’s restaurants, tennis courts, marinas or clubhouse.

But even with the looming threat of sanctions, some residents have used the WhatsApp group to speak directly to the board.

“Please, dear FIC Board and FICA Board – do not treat us like children. After all, we are the ones paying dues,” one member of the group chat wrote. “No disrespect or disharmony intended.”